The Cult of the B lack Cube

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© Theion Publishing, 2017
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Edited by David Beth

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 Table of Contents

■ F oreword by Frater U D — p. 1

The Cult of the B lack Cube

■ I n troduction (A n A necdote)— p .21

■ Overview — p.29

■ Section One: Scholarly Materials on Saturn

Saturn in Isla mic Texts — p. 35

Saturn in the Classical 'Tradition — p.55

Saturn in the I ndian 'Tradition — p.75

■ Section T wo: Saturnine G nosis

The Spiritual P a th — p. 89
The Saturnine D e ity : A nalysis — p.94
The Saturnine D e ity : I nterprelation — p.103
The Saturnine P a th — p. 109
■ Section Three: Saturnine Practice

Overview — p. 123
Saturnine Devotion: Establishing a Shrine — p. 125
Saturnine M a g ic — p. 130
Sacred Time — p. 133
Saturnine R itu als
S e lf I nitiation Rite — p.141
The Oracle of Cronos — p. 143
T o Summon Saturn - V ariant I-III — p. 145
The B lack Cube — p.149
The R ite of Chains — p. 151

■ Concluding Remarks — p. 155

Selected annotated B ibliography — p. 159 Appendix I — p. 167

Appendix II — p.171 I mage Credits — p. 173 Editions — p. 175
 F oreword

I n his introduction to this book our author wastes no time in pinpointing a

major issue that has bugged occultism and the Western magical traditions
for centuries if not millennia:

When I'm asked what particular spiritual tradition I follow, I often have
to resist the urge to say "Saturnine Gnosis," because the experiences,
rituals, and practices that I follow are ultimately connected to chthonic
entities and their ruling Intelligence that fundamentally is not a good or
kindly being, namely the Saturnine deity.

Indeed, the term 'Saturnine (or, more commonly: Saturn) Gnosis' shares its
ambiguity with many if not most occult concepts and tags. Whereas, to the
uninformed reader, its constituent elements ('Saturn,' 'Gnosis') may seem to be
straightforward enough, any closer in-depth look will reveal multiple different
layers of meaning, a good many of which appear to be downright contradic-
tory, i.e. incompatible, with one another. This has made for a lot of bewilder-
ment and occasionally bitter disputes within the various occult communities
throughout the ages, with little effort being spent on analyzing the specific
factors - philosophical, intellectual, societal, historical or, summarily, 'cultural'
- governing and fundamentally informing this intrinsic equivocation.

1
 Thus, many occultists: writers, readers, teachers, acolytes, and practitio-
ners may be and indeed are aware that Saturn as a planetary deity symbolically
stands for the 'guardian of the threshold' as is the case, for example, in classical
astrology. However, this epithet does not easily and certainly not intuitively
comply with equating Saturn to the salvific figures of Lucifer (more commonly
a traditional denotation of the morning and/or evening star, i.e. Venus) and
Prometheus, not to mention the contrarian and - to many - sinister character
Satan, as a number of other schools and traditions are wont to do.
The Greek term gnosis in turn is generally translated as 'knowledge.' This,
while technically accurate, omits to address the fact that what is typically
implied by gnosis within a philosophical or metaphysical context is actually
knowledge of a revelatory and salvific type that goes way beyond mere intel-
lectual, cognitive ratiocination. Contrary to common parlance, where it may
stand for basically any set of data and information (vide, for example, coder
speak in information technology), in occultism it is imprinted by its reference
to antique Gnosticism - an eminently ambiguous term in its own right whose
definition has been and actually still is subject to ongoing furious academic
debates for the better part of two centuries - longer, in fact, if you choose to
factor in the early Church fathers' contention and propaganda concerning the
Gnostics' purported 'hereticism.'
This ambiguity issue is nothing new, of course, and everyone who has
devoted more than perfunctory attention to the history of occultism is basi-
cally aware of it. Introductory works dealing with occult disciplines ranging
from alchemy and astral projection to astrology, from divination to geomancy,
Enochian Aethyrs, the Kabbalah, ceremonial magic, sorcery and shamanism,
from sex magic, sigil magic and success spells to talismantics, the Tarot, theur-
gy et cetera, to name but a representative selection, will usually explain the
concept of symbols as inherently ambivalent markers ill-suited to simplistic
one-size-fits-all interpretations.
Nevertheless, this theoretical consensus has done little to prevent acrid
controversies between uncounted occultist factions over which particular
exegesis and, by inference, day to day handling of any given set of symbols
is the 'true' and 'legitimate' one. By way of a particularly illustrative case in

12
point let's take a brief look at the Coins of the Tarot deck and the elements that
are commonly assigned to them. General consensus, widely accepted to this
day and ranging back to the 19thcentury has it that, obviously being a symbolic
representation of money, the Coins should be attributed to the element Earth.
This reflects the Victorian rationale of material prosperity invariably culmi-
nating in the acquisition of'safe' and 'stable' real estate ('property proper' as it
were) - a fundamentally feudalist view of economic prowess hailing back to a
predominantly agrarian, i.e. pre-industrial society.
Yet even as long ago as the 19th century, there was one notable prominent
exception: in his seminal treatise Le Tarot des Bohémiens, clef absolue des sciences
occultes [Tarot of the Gypsies. The Absolute Key to the Occult Sciences] o f 1889 the
Spanish born French occultist, former theosophist, Martinist, magician,
author and court adviser to the Russian tsar, Papus (i.e. Gérard Analect Vincent
Encausse, 1865-1916) assigns the element Air to the tarot's Coins. While he
doesn't bother much with explaining this decision, it does appear to be more
in accord with our contemporary post-industrial (and, arguably, even Marxist)
view of money as a volatile abstraction characterized by an essential mobil-
ity and insubstantial flightiness. Whereas it may doubtlessly be deployed to
purchase and maintain tangible immovables such as Earth-related real estate,
landed property, landholdings and the like, money itself is, at least within the
framework of this specific paradigm, an entity functionally distinguished by
its ability to move about from one owner to the other. Only when it is being
'spent,' i.e. transitioned from one place to another, can it actually exert its
power of facilitating commerce and exchange o f goods and services. Precious
metal based currency aside, money's 'value' is actually a consensually honored
promise as issued by whoever holds the prerogative of coinage - which places it
squarely in the elemental realm of Air. This, incidentally, is why, within a plan-
etary correspondence context, money is traditionally allotted to Mercury.
Nor is this elemental assignment merely an abstract, academic conceit. In
practical money spells, when conducting ceremonial magic in the Hermetic
heritage - as, for example, in the Golden Dawn tradition - it makes all the
difference whether your operative rituals and magical formulas are technically
focused on money as governed by Earth or, alternatively, on money as relating

13
to Air. Indeed, most practitioners would argue that your results are bound to
vary significantly, depending on which particular correspondence pairing you
happen to opt for.
One might be tempted to argue that in hindsight Papus has proven to be
the more astute and 'progressive/ 'modern' thinker by viewing money and
its symbolic representation by the tarot's Coins in a manner that unhitches
the previously dominant if not reactionary perspective of politico-economic
power invariably being rooted in and legitimized by large-scale landed prop-
erty. Certainly, in an age of post-industrial globalized cyber economy it makes
little sense to tie the power of finance to an agrarian view of wealth and pros-
perity.
Note, however, that our point here is not about which of these two diver-
gent views is the 'correct' one. Attempting to attain to such an absolute conclu-
sion would in itself constitute an obsolete agenda no longer plausible within
the context of contemporary postmodern relativism. Long gone are the days
when incontrovertible absolute 'truths' were Western societies' common
staple, regardless whether they were based in Aristotelian logic, fundamental-
ist religious convictions as promoted by Judaism and Christianity, in idolized
secularist rationalism as celebrated by Age of Enlightenment philosophy and
humanism, or, in the 19th and early to mid-20th century, by scientism, philo-
sophical materialism and its positivist offshoots. Philosophy, anthropology,
depth psychology, neurology, sociology, the cognitive sciences and last but
not least quantum physics have done their part grinding away at the absolut-
ist certainties of yore. Today, it is only religious fundamentalists, politically
reactionary, revisionist minds and the educationally challenged who cannot
come to terms with the domineering point of view that, philosophically as
well as scientifically, 'reality' is no objective absolute but, rather, a narrational
construct subject to a slew of factors of which supposedly objective 'facticity'
however defined is a mere subset.
Why is this important to point out? Because embracing it will actually
expand rather than limit the occult practitioner's options. This is essentially
the attitude of Pragmatic and, to an extent, even Chaos Magic: don't waste
precious time and effort on determining invariably contestable absolutes not

14
to mention provoking the ensuing overly theoretical metaphysical arguments
and squabbling. Rather, if it works, simply make use of it! And be as flexible
about things as you can: if, in your money spell, you need to focus on the tangi-
ble, material side of both money in general and the tarot Coins in particular,
e.g. as in getting hold of a specific piece o f real estate, by all means assign the
element Earth to either of them. Looking for success in some Forex online day
trading venture? Perhaps addressing matters via the elemental paradigm of
Air may prove to be the more promising approach.
Saturn Gnosis is no exception and this book elucidates the issue in abun-
dant, enlightening detail. The very title of Liz Greene's astrology classic Saturn:
A New Look at an Old Devil (originally published in 1976) illustrates the inevitable
ambiguity we will have to confront when addressing the mythological figure
of Saturn and all it stands for. In classical astrology and its many iterations
right until about the middle of the 20th century, Saturn is generally the indi-
cator of famine, disease, misfortune, desolation, decrepitude, destitution and
death, the folkloristic Grim Reaper's scythe constituting but a baleful echo of
Saturn's notorious sickle. An archetypal malefactor if there ever was one - 'old
devil' indeed. Saturn is, of course, the name the Romans assigned to the Greek
Titan Kronos. Not a particularly nice fellow, certainly not a 'good and kindly
being' by any standard - if in doubt, ask his father Uranus whom he emascu-
lated with his scythe... The concatenation (likely facilitated by their respective
names' similarity) of the Titan Kronos with the god Chronos who personified
Time led to Saturn being rendered as 'Father Time' to the present day. And of
course, Time as the 'devourer of life' isn't exactly regarded as the most jovial of
cosmic cheer makers, either.
Yet, from a certain point (albeit not from very early on when they apparent-
ly still focused on his maleficent aspects) the Romans revered and worshipped
Saturnus as a benign deity in charge o f agriculture, fertility, nourishment and
prosperity. According to Ovid and Hesiod, he even presided over the mythi-
cal Golden Age when all was well with the world and its human denizens. The
Capitoline Hill was originally referred to as Satumius mons and the god was
also in charge of the all-important state treasury. Rome's most popular annual
festival, the Saturnalia, was decidedly an extended period of making merry, of

15
present-giving and playful social role reversals - in modern Western cultural
terms we might well compare it to a mix of Carnival and Christmas festivities.
In summary, Saturn also enjoyed devotion and reverence as a prime divine
benefactor. One and the same entity, viewed as both the incorporation of evil
events, depression and destruction and as the source of wholesome abun-
dance, well-being and revelry - it doesn't get more contradictory than that.
Yet ours is not merely a question o f "seeing both sides of the medal" or balanc-
ing the Yin with the Yang. Finagle it philosophically as much as you will: what
we are actually dealing with here is something very much alien to our purport-
edly clear cut, assertedly rational view of a one-truth-only-world as conveyed to
us by Aristotle and his successors. We are, in fact, dealing with the Power of the
Paradox. Mythical reality is never (and neither is life itself) as unequivocal and
unambiguous as mainstream human endeavor would like to paint it. Gnosis as
an applied and manifest knowledge of life and life technology will always focus
not on "resolving” the obviously prevalent contradictions informing the world
but, rather, on handling them in a meaningful constructive manner: practice
rather than dogma, palpable experience in lieu of abstract faith or merely theo-
retical surmise are its mainstay. If nothing else, this is what the Gnostics of
Antiquity and the medieval mystics and kabbalists have taught us, as did the
Indian sages in Vedic times and the Buddhist masters: if we truly want to come
to grips with the world as is, we have no choice but to embrace its paradoxical
nature and forge it into a viable weapon to best the vagaries of life.
The German Fratemitas Satumi (FS) is unquestionably the oldest and most
influential magical order extant focused on Saturn Gnosis. Thus, it seems
reasonable to assume that it may know a thing or two about the subject. The FS
holds antique Gnosticism in high esteem and has even devoted one of its work-
ing (as in contrast to honorary) degrees, the 25° Magister Gnosticus to the inves-
tigation and pursuit of gnosis. What many beginners find confusing, however,
is that while antique Gnosticism viewed the "Demiurge” as a malevolent or, at
best, ignorant entity which the Gnostics opposed in any which way, in its core
rituals Saturn is addressed as the "Great Demiurge” in a decidedly positive,
respectful manner. How can this be? Isn't this a fundamental contradiction in
dire need of resolution?

16
 Again, we are confronted with an ambiguity of terms that reflects the para-
doxical - or dare we say holistic? - narrative occultists in general and magicians
in particular are bound to resort to and handle (rather than "resolve”) when
dealing with the vast spectrum of tools a plethora o f occult traditions have
bequeathed to us. Obviously, in Plato's Timaeus (appr. 360 b c ) the Demiurge as
a universal artisan, master builder or fashioner, albeit essentially a secondary,
executory force, is an entity viewed as a great benefactor. After Plato, both the
Middle Platonic as well as the Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, while merrily
expounding on it, were entirely happy with the notion, too. As, incidentally, are
today's Freemasons, never mind the fact that they may not technically employ
the term "demiurge” itself any longer, having replaced it with "Great Architect
[of the Universe]”. The fundamental concept is still the same.
It was the antique Gnostics who converted the expression in a pejorative
manner to denote a lesser being or archon whose various - distinctly unfa-
vorable - appellations include Ialdabaoth, Saklas ("fool”), Samael ("blind god”)
etc. Here we find the Demiurge being described as a malevolent, stupid, blind,
haughty, callous, egotistical if not unredeemable "failed god”, given which it is
the Gnostic's prime task to unmask him for what he is and to escape from his
profane clutches. This is part and parcel of the Gnostics' dualist anti-cosmic
tenet that the world constitutes the dungeon of the nous or the "divine spark”
that needs liberation. Viewed from this perspective, Saturn Gnosis is actually
quite aware of those less than benevolent "chthonic entities and their ruling
Intelligence” mentioned above.
Again, there is no necessity whatsoever to subscribe to either the one or the
other view to the exclusion of its respective counterpart. Rather, we would be
well-advised to handle them all in accordance with the English sorcerer Austin
Osman Spare's sober counsel that belief is but a technology which is why magi-
cians should select their beliefs just as surgeons will select their tools - what-
ever is best suited to achieve any given goal is always the instrument or belief
of choice.
This book is an excellent resource to fill your metaphysical and philosophi-
cal arsenal with a multitude of such tools that will help empower you.

U bique .*. D aemon .* U bique .* D eus.*

17
The Cult of the B
lack Cube

Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas;

Magnus aB integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
iam redit et Virgo, redeuntSatumia regna,
iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.

Now comes the final era of the Sibyl's song;

The new world order is born.
And now justice returns, Saturn's reign returns,
Now a new lineage is sent down from high heaven.
 his book is going to explain some concepts which my friends and colleagues
warn me might sound very bleak to first time readers. That's a very fair
assessment. When I'm asked what particular spiritual tradition I follow, I
often have to resist the urge to say 'Saturnine Gnosis', because the experiences,
rituals, and practices that I follow are ultimately connected to chthonic entities
and their ruling Intelligence that fundamentally is not a good or kindly being,
namely the Saturnine deity. Explaining myself or my views and practices is
often more trouble than it's worth, and frankly, for years I didn't feel any incli-
nation to codify or share them with anyone else. However, in the last several
years, a series of events, coincidences, and synchronicities have run together
in such a way that I believe that the Saturnine deity wishes these things to be
shared, and so I'm going to try to relate a series of occult teachings and tech-
niques, gathered from over 20 years of serious academic and esoteric research.
Since we're going to be spending some time together, I want to tell you a little
about myself, and why this book came to be written by me.
When I was in my senior year o f high school, I was in a car accident that
damaged my spine and crippled me in my right leg. X-rays showed that the
section of my spine which connected to my hips - the coccyx - had been nearly
destroyed. I was in terrible, constant pain, which stayed with me throughout
daylight hours, and made it nearly impossible to sleep, study, or even move

21
without considerable medication. Sitting was agony, and the damage to my
spine had caused a loss of control over one of my legs, so I could only hobble
around school with the use o f a cane. This damage lasted for several years. The
medical system was good and efficient, but none of the treatments worked,
and my spinal specialist was concerned that surgery had a good chance of
damaging the nerves further, and could lead to total paralysis below the waist.
I spent months in physiotherapy, then chiropractic - 1 even tried yoga. None of
these helped, and my doctors were forced to prescribe increasingly large doses
of opiates to dull the constant pain in my back and legs. That alone was almost
as great a danger as the nerve damage, because opiates are highly addictive,
and this was at a time when painkiller addiction was not yet recognized as the
serious issue that it is today. I was 18 years old, and walking with a cane, but the
real issue was the vacillation between extremes of pain from the spinal damage
or the foggy vagueness o f morphine.
This miserable state of affairs lasted until I was midway through my under-
graduate studies. To be honest, Tm not entirely sure how I even got into univer-
sity, as I was so heavily medicated that I couldn't drive, and often slurred my
words. On the other hand, I really liked the process o f learning, and university
offered the possibility of discovering the unknown.
My undergraduate studies were initially in Humanities, and I took a lot of
courses in different disciplines to see what I might want to do as a career. The
university was medium sized and had decent course offerings across a range
of disciplines, and so I was able to try psychology and philosophy, together with
Latin, and religious studies. I thoroughly enjoyed religious studies, because
the department of religion was going through a generational transition, which
resulted in many of the faculty being specialists in ‘new* fields like pagan-
ism and esoterica. They offered courses on 'Death and Dying', 'Magic and the
Occult', and 'Ancient Myths and Semiotics', none of which had been offered a
decade prior.
On a whim, I signed up for the course on 'Magic and the Occult'; I think
because I needed an elective, it fit my timetable, and it seemed interesting. So
I limped to class, and it turned out that the instructor was actually quite good,
and seemed to have what even today I would call an excellent non-specialist's

22
grasp of the subject matter. Just to be clear, I don't believe that someone needs
to be a magician in order to research magic, because there are some excellent
researchers who work on supernatural phenomena without trying to create
them. This was one such teacher, and so we had very interesting discussions
about the history of magic, magic in the ancient world, the mechanics of spells
and ceremonies, and basic demonology. As you can see, I still remember the
course well, and since I was drugged into a nearly constant coma, that suggests
that it was a course well taught.
As the middle of the term neared, the instructor reminded us that as per
the syllabus, we would not have a final exam, but instead a research project.
I decided to do my essay on the concept of Black Magic in Antiquity, mainly
because I was a fan of the 'Conan' movies with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and
the whole 'ancient sorcerer' motif that was prevalent in that genre. So I spent a
few days in the university library, digging into different texts on necromancy,
black magic, curses, demons, and materials of that sort. It was very interest-
ing to see what was available back then, and I must say that our library had a
surprisingly decent collection of books and journals on those subjects, espe-
cially given that it wasn't a huge university. I can only assume that the faculty
themselves were very active in research, which would have justified the sizable
collection of materials on those subjects.
I was poring through one of the French monographs on la nigromantie
romaine (Roman necromancy) when I came across a particular ceremony that
was designed to placate the chthonic gods in exchange for favors. It was, if
you know anything about Roman religion, a very typically Latin idea: do ut des,
meaning, 'I give so that You [the deity] will give.' The ceremony was rather
complex, and it seemed to be based partially on the chthonic ritual celebrated
by Aeneas in the Aeneid, in which a ditch is dug so that black-colored animals
can be sacrificed and have their blood flow down into the earth. Reading it, I
felt a strange sense that maybe these practices were not simply superstition.
The ancients were not stupid people, and you absolutely cannot visit Egypt
or Italy or India and think that the great monuments were built by morons.
Magical ceremonies were incredibly costly to perform, and people do not
repeatedly spend large amounts of money on practices that generate no results.

23
In all of the ancient cultures, magicians were professionals, with clientele just
as respectable as a doctor or lawyer might envy. With this in mind, I found
myself contemplating the possibility of trying some modernized version o f the
ritual to the chthonic gods.
To be clear, I'm not saying that I believed in magic necessarily, but I was in
a kind of pain that can only be described as transformative. Everything around
me was visible only through a red haze, and I was losing my ability to function
in any productive way. Through the different courses I was taking, though, I
was hearing intelligent, articulate instructors discussing magic as an actual
force that could be studied, tested, and used to real effect. It's not that those
teachers were (all) claiming to be magicians, but that they would frequently
describe having observed some otherwise unexplainable phenomena while
staying with Native American medicine men, African witchdoctors, or Sufi
masters. They didn't sugar coat it either - and this stayed with me - they all
made a point of saying that magic was a force that tended to scar the people
who used it, and that those who contact the spirit world tended to be sick or
damaged individuals. This even has an academic name: The Shamanic illness/
because most cultures that have shamans believe that the spirits contact the
potential shaman during some terrible sickness, or after an accident of some
kind. In any event, given the kind o f education that I'd been fortunate to get,
and since I had exhausted all the conventional medical options, I was willing
to try anything.
You might wonder: why approach the chthonic gods? The answer is simply
that I have always felt a natural resonance with chthonic energies. It's not that
I liked serial killers or war zones, but in the mythology classes that I took, I
was definitely drawn to the more savage and monstrous elements - it wasn't
a rational liking, it was just instinctive. Furthermore, when you actually study
the Hellenistic or Hermetic magical traditions, there is a definite sense that
there is a cosmic order which cannot or should not normally be overturned.
If you're injured and broken, you're supposed to consult a doctor or a priest,
you don't turn to magic unless you're willing to incur serious debt to powerful
gods or spirits. That may not be the way magic is discussed today, but that was

24
very much how it was presented in the various textbooks available to me at the
time.
I did my research. I had taken Latin, and I was able to reconstruct a basic
ritual that ought to have put me in touch with the Di Manes, the ghost-gods of
the Roman netherworld. This seemed like a wise direction to go in, because I
knew for a fact that I have Roman ancestry, and in theory my ancestors must
have sacrificed to these entities for centuries. As a blood descendant of some
presumable pious Romans, it made sense to approach those same entities and
ask for their help. I understood that magic involves trade, and so I was prepared
to offer virtually whatever they asked for.
The night of the ritual came, and I had prepared very carefully. The ritual
text itself was in Latin, and I had relied partially on John Gager's Curse Tablets
and Binding Spells for some of the passages. The altar had offerings of wine,
water, bread, and other gifts that seemed representative o f the traditional
things that a Roman chthonic entity might want. As I did not have a funeral
pit to pour them into, I had procured a glass bowl to receive the offerings. I
myself had a toga, and I knew enough to cover my head to show humility to the
deities. I began the ritual in the dark, except for a few candles to give enough
light to see the text. It was just the beginning of Fall, and so the house was rela-
tively warm. I recited the litany, and began to pour the offerings of wine, then
water, then bread. Using a knife, I then cut my left hand and allowed the blood
to trickle down my fingers and into the cauldron.
That particular act was probably one of the most significant o f my life.
Things began to change when the blood entered the cauldron. The tempera-
ture in the room dropped sharply, and the candles dimmed. The flames them-
selves didn't flicker, but their light became so weak that the darkness of the
room was really oppressive. I became aware that I was not alone - I could feel
the presence of multiple spirits in the room with me, and they did not at all
feel friendly. I'd assumed that since I was drawing on ancestral gods and freely
offering my own blood that whatever showed up would be friendly. Stupidly,
I had not imagined that whatever came would be malevolent or just angry at
being disturbed.

25
 Then the glass cauldron exploded. It didn't crack, it literally detonated into
tiny glass fragments. I felt real fear, because I didn't know what to do at that
point. It became hard to breathe, as if some force was crushing my chest. My
carefully planned Latin broke down, and I could only pray audibly in my native
French to those spirits to forgive me for having disturbed their slumber. I was
afraid to move, because the floor was in darkness, and there were tiny glass
shards everywhere.
Eventually, maybe after ten or fifteen minutes, the malevolent presence
in the room faded away. The room became warmer and brighter, and I felt
that it was safe enough to limp across the room and turn on the lights. I cut
my feet on the glass, of course, because I had been barefoot. I cleaned up the
mess, regretted having tried the ritual in the first place, and promised myself
I'd never dabble in black magic again.
Two or three nights later, I had a lucid dream. It was unique, I'll never forget
it. Always I have hated trying to describe this dream, because it was a genuinely
sacred experience, but I am convinced that the rest of the book will simply not
make sense if I don't share the core aspects of it.
I appeared on a mountain in this really strange place, mostly desert, and
the colors were all wrong, namely that the sky and sands were all hues of red
and orange that are not possible on earth. There was a sense of hostility toward
life in that place. But I did not really pay much attention to the surroundings,
because there was this gigantic pulsing black energy mass before me. It occa-
sionally rippled with color in the same way that black petroleum can have a
rainbow sheen on its oily surface, and you know that the color is not the petrol,
it's just the light glancing off it. The black energy spoke to me by projecting
words into my head, I didn't question the mechanism at the time. In essence,
it said that my ritual had gotten its attention, and that it had decided to bring
me to its world. The deity offered me a choice. First, it said that I could return
to my normal life, and expect to live in the same continued pain and misery
that had compelled me to try something as desperate as dabbling in black
magic. But alternately, it said that it could fix me, stitch my damaged spine
back together, and completely devour the trauma. The deity said that it would
do more than this - it would set me on a different path than fate had intended,

26
where I would go interesting places, learn to do strange things, and have a
generally very exciting life. In return, I would serve as one of its messengers in
this world, carrying its essence with me, running through the damaged tissues
of my body. My own agendas and ambitions would come second, because noth-
ing in life is free, and certainly not miracles.
Well, I wanted to experience the miraculous, so I accepted its generous
offer without blinking. Right there and then, I felt its energy pour into me, like
ice water in my veins. I felt its essence crawling into my spine, like the steroid
injections I'd had, working its way between the cracked vertebrae. It hurt a
great deal, and then I woke up.
I'll keep this short: within a week, the pain in my spine was gone. In two
weeks, I didn't need the cane to walk anymore, and within a month I no longer
needed any of the staggering amount o f medication that had previously allowed
me to function. My doctors had absolutely no explanation for the healing, and
they called it (you can rightly imagine) a miracle case.
It would be exciting to say that I began to receive razor-clear gnosis or direc-
tions, but that's not at all how things worked for me. It communicated with
me through nudges, surges of intuitions, and a lot of unusual synchronicity.
Eventually, when I was ready, the deity finally allowed me to see it as Saturn,
the Black Cube, the Lord of Time. It didn't ever seem to give me any work, but
it did force me into graduate school, and eventually into a doctorate program
in mythology at an Ivy League school. I have been studying the various cults of
Saturn, in His many cultural guises and manifestations ever since.
You might be interested to know that it has not been a solitary road. Along
the way, I have met a number of figures whom I studied with for a time. Each,
in their own way, was and is a deeply devoted adept of the Saturnine deity.
Some of them are very public figures, and it would surprise you if you knew
that they were devotees of Saturn. Others have proven to be allies who (I was
shocked) have had similar experiences, and wandered on other equally or more
bizarre Saturnine quests.
Twenty-five years later, I have to say that the deity held up every part of its
agreement. Those years of study and practice have paid off, and I now enjoy a
level of privacy and comfort that many o f my academic colleagues would envy.

27
Nevertheless, in the last year, the deity called Saturn has made it clear to me
(though I was reluctant) that it is finally time to write. I had discussed this
initially with my friend David Beth, who encouraged me in this direction.
I don't like writing about the occult for two reasons. One, because it feels
wrong to share secrets and insights so freely with strangers. Since I had to
work hard for over two decades, suffer, travel, and starve in order to get this
knowledge, why would I put it in a book for other people? Second, and more
importantly, because these practices, this knowledge, is deeply personal and
sacred; And often this knowledge and the experiences derived from Saturnian
contact are intimate beyond conceptualization. There is a great danger that
any attempt made to convey conceptually what is basically beyond concep-
tualization is bound to fail or at least is in danger to be either inadequate or
misunderstood. I do not want this to happen at all, and so if it were up to me, I
just would not write this book at all. Yet as I said above, some decisions are not
mine to make, and so I hope that you will prove an understanding and atten­
tive audience.
This book is written for the Saturnine deity, in hopes that you too will find
something special here. This book does offer secrets, gleaned from years of
study. It shows rites and practices that are likely thousands of years old, yet
which remain viable and potent today. Finally, this book can help you to see
the incredible intricacies to which this deity is at work in the world, in many
cultures and enterprises. Through this book, I hope, you will find your own
way to the Saturnine deity, and what happens when you reach that point is up
to you. Of course, even Saturn is himself a manifestation of an even greater
continuum - that is, Chaos - but we will get to that in time. In any case, if
somehow this book is useful in your own spiritual quest for the gnosis that
leads to primordial Chaos, then I will count my efforts well rewarded.

28
 Overview

T
his book presents an overview into the worship and gnosis of the Saturnine
deity, sometimes called the Black Sun or the Black Cube, a unique entity
that has been venerated by many cultures for thousands of years. It is intended
primarily to be used by practicing occultists, but is designed to be accessible
also to insightful readers of other backgrounds. For the purposes o f nomen-
clature, this work refers to the god as 'the Saturnine deity' rather than Saturn,
primarily because 'Saturn' is merely the Roman name for an entity that tran-
scends the limitations of Italic mythology. Names are important, to be sure, but
in the case of a deity that has multiple names, it may be better to avoid naming
it consistently after a single cultural norm. As the author of The Picatrix makes
plain, Him which someone calls 'Saturn,' another may call 'Cronos,' 'Sani,'
'Samedi,' 'Keyvan,' 'Tezcatlipoca,' or even 'the Black Cube.' This deity has been
treated by various authors from their own unique cultural perspective. For
example, the reader may be aware of The Greatness of Saturn by Robert Svoboda.
Other authors have addressed the Saturnine deity indirectly, or included Him
among other deities, as in the case of (Pseudo) Al-Majriti's Ghayat al Hakim,
the translation o f which is better known in the West as the above-mentioned
Picatrix. Nevertheless, if one accepts for a moment that the occult addresses
actual deities which themselves transcend cultural boundaries, then one must
acknowledge that a culture-specific approach might (or indeed, must) have
limitations that are the result o f a culture's bias.

29
 One of the most interesting occult exercises is the tracing o f the Saturn cult
throughout the various cultures o f the ancient world. This exercise is signifi-
cant for several reasons. First, having studied five or six different ancient reli-
gious systems, it becomes clear that there are very few deities that are truly
international, insofar as maintaining their distinct traits across the cultural
lines. Saturn is one of the rare few who appears in multiple cultures with the
same essential characteristics. Here one might ask if all solar deities aren't
generic - and the answer would be definitively 'no/ The Roman, Aztec, and
Egyptian solar deities (for example) share almost nothing in common except
for the obvious attribute of the shining disk. One might equally ask if oceanic
deities are not all more or less the same, and the answer there is again 'no/
they tend to be relatively unique apart from their connection to water. In any
case, these aforementioned deities are tied to visible natural phenomena, and
so one would expect them to have common traits, since the observation o f the
phenomena is not related to one's culture. When a deity or entity which repre-
sents more abstract concepts appears to carry those traits consistently across
the cultural lines, it raises some very interesting questions of how and why
the culture reveres that deity. In our modern esoteric culture we unfortunately
very often find 'practitioners' insisting that a figure like Lilith is equivalent
and non-different from Hecate and Kali, because they are female deities with
a dark side. This is an incredibly poor (and dangerous) reduction o f complex
cultural figures and symbols. One must be careful not to simply 'lump togeth-
er' different deities that share a certain vague portfolio of attributes, but not
distinguishing stories or features. This book, however, will demonstrate that
the Saturnine deity is not merely a series o f similar gods, but rather the same
entity which is recognized and venerated/placated by multiple religions and
occult systems.

30
This work presents its content across three thematic sections:

■ Scholarly Materials. There is a great deal of ancient, medieval, and

modern texts that deal with the mythology, worship, and veneration of
Saturn across a wide range of cultures. Predominate cultures covered
will include: Classical (Greco-Roman), Islamic, and Indian, with refer-
ences to Aztec and Afro-Caribbean spirituality where appropriate.
This section of the book investigates the way scholars and specialists
understand the way various cultures perceived and experienced the
divine mandate and cosmic function o f Saturn. A selected annotated
bibliography which provides a discussion of sources for people who
wish to carry out their own independent investigations can be found at
the end of the book.

■ Saturnine Theory. This section investigates general discussions of

magic, and gnosis, together with personal views and knowledge gained
through direct transmission from mentors (human and inhuman)
about the Saturnine deity. It includes observations and speculations
about the global cult of Saturn in its many forms. Where the scholarly
section is backed by hard facts and academic sources, this section
is more gnostic, interpretive, and anecdotal than the prior one, but
equally significant in terms of the information presented.

■ Saturnine Practices. The contemporary cultist o f Saturn has a very

wide range of historical practices from which to choose. This section
explores various basic and advanced devotions and rites, for those who
wish to engage directly with the Black Cube and its chthonic energies.
It also discusses some facets of contemporary occult practice, such as
the role o f sacrifice, the mechanics of Saturnine magic, and the ulti-
mate goal of the practice of magic.

31
 Section One

Scholarly Materials on Saturn

 Saturn in I slamic Texts

M edieval Islamic cosmology, like the Indian and Hermetic cosmologies

from which it borrows, considers that the seven planets of the solar
system are not mere geological masses, but physical representations of celes-
tial intelligences or powers. These seven planetary powers hold considerable
influence over the day-to-day affairs of humanity and indeed all earthly life.
Consequently, the serious student of celestial philosophy (read: magic) is able
to gain some hold over these beings, and thereby improve his lot on earth, or
alter the course of natural events for another person, issue, or region.
In medieval Islamic esoterica, the figure of Saturn is a surprisingly popular
figure. The Arabic word for the Saturnine deity is Zuhal, which means The one
who is far away', or 'the alien.' While many familiar with Hermetic thought
might like to claim that this concept o f 'distance' or 'being alien' is borrowed
from Greek thought, it has been definitively stated that 'Zuhal' was the Arabic
name for Saturn long before the Arabs or Jews had become familiar with Greek
learning.1

1 “This etymology clearly postdates the knowledge among Arabic writers o f Greek cosmol-
ogy, for whom Saturn is the farthermost planet in the cosmos; it would have made little
sense within the context o f the limited astronomy of the pre-Islamic Arabs.” See Hartner-
[F.J. Ragep], “Zuhal”, in: Encyclopaedia o f Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman,
Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 18 August
2016 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_8194>.

35
 As Islam lacks any outright 'Satanic' current, and its antinomian traditions
are much more 'Right Hand Path'2 than many would like to admit, the author
would suggest that the cult of Zuhal took the role that Satanism came to fill
in medieval Christianity. The Saturnine deity becomes the champion of the
desperate, the greedy, the rebel, and the vengeance-driven. It is highly signifi­
cant that Zuhal appears in multiple Islamic manuscripts, and that the details
o f the cult of Zuhal appear to have been well known to Arab authors not as
history, but as actual practices which 'other Arabs' were practicing well into
the medieval period. Zuhal was not dimly remembered like some historical
Quraysh deity such as Allat or Hubal, but was instead held to be an entity to
which actual sections of the Quran were dedicated, and to whom consider­
able power of fate was attributed. This tension is not ignored by the authors
of the various esoteric manuscripts, and so the compilers of The Picatrix and
Nabataean Agriculture somewhat awkwardly try to turn the planet Saturn into
some sort of angelic intelligence, in the hopes of making its cult more palatable
to devout Muslim readers.
The various manuscripts insist, on the one hand, that Saturn is unique in
that where the other planets have their own area of authority, Saturn's author-
ity is over the planets themselves, and so the devotee of Saturn has the advan-
tage of not only being able to appeal to Zuhal's own portfolio (discussed below),
but also the possibility of using Zuhal's influence to overrule the other plan-
etary powers.
When examining the Islamic view of the Saturnine deity, one would do well
to consider the source texts. One of the cardinal rules of any textual analysis is
that when authors mean something, they'll repeat themselves. So in scanning
this text, we will look first for repetition, not word order, and terms that are

2 By the term 'Right Hand Path' the author refers to a spiritual tradition that is in keeping
with the orthodox norms and taboos o f a given religion, in this case o f Islam. Most forms
of Sufism (for example) would fall under this definition, as they encourage a strict adher-
ence to normative Islam. By ‘Left Hand Path' the author refers to those spiritual traditions
which deliberately ignore or even violate orthodox norms and taboos of a given religion. This
is rare in textual or folk Islam, though some specialists argue that such Sufi groups as the
Malamatiyya make use o f taboo violation as a kind o f shaming exercise that shocks the ego
into submission.

36
repeated will be flagged in bold. Since the text is in translation, it is reason-
able to consider synonymic repetition as valid. As the oldest of the primary
texts considered in this section, it would be wise to consider the words of Ibn
Wahshiyya's treatise Nabataean Agriculture. Ibn Wahshiyya writes of Zuhal:

Beware the evil of this god when He is angered or to the west of the Sun
or veiled in its rays in the middle of its return. Pray to Him this prayer
which we have just given here. While you are praying this prayer, give a
burnt offering to His idol consisting of old hides, grease, strips of leather
and dead bats. Burn for Him fourteen dead bats and an equal amount of
rats. Then take their ashes and prostrate yourself on them in front of His
idol. Prostrate yourselves to Him [in the form of ] a black stone on black
sand and seek refuge from Him against his evil, because O my brethren
and beloved ones, He is the cause of the perishing of all that perishes,
the cause of decay of all that decays, the cause of perdition of all that is
destroyed, the cause of sorrow of all the sorrowful ones, and the weeping
of all the weeping ones. He is the Lord o f evil and sin and filth and dirt
and poverty.

This is what He does to men when He is angered, but when He is content

then He gives them existence, long life, fame after their death, accep-
tance in the eyes of those who look at them and sweetness of speech.
His anger is to be [feared] in situations like I just described to you, but
his contentment is to be expected when He is east of the Sun or in the
middle of His course or in places which agree with His actions or in the
full speed of His travel or in the cycle of His ascendance.

If you pray to Him when He is angered, repeat your prayer and the
sacrifice when He is content and remind Him of the earlier prayer and
repeat it to Him so that you might escape his evil. 3

3 Following the edition of Jaakko Hameen-Anttila. The Last P agans o f Iraq: Ibn W a h sh iyya and
H is N abatean Agriculture. Islam ic H istory an d C ivilization, v. 63 (Leiden: Brill. 2006), p. 153. This
edition is hereafter referred to as N abataean Agriculture.

37
The text continues, but let us pause here momentarily. The text repeats such
terms as 'evil,' 'anger,' 'prayer,' 'black.' These are not accidental repetitions, as the
author is trying to stress the nature of the deity. Zuhal is connected with 'evil.'
and is a power that can experience the emotional state that humans consider
'anger.' This suggests two things: first, that Zuhal has emotions as a human
and thus we can relate to Him on some level; second, that the deity is aware of
human action and reacts to it. Further, the text repeats the verb 'pray' and the
noun 'prayer' several times, which indicates that it is possible to communicate
with this remote being, not as an equal, but as something greater. We also see,
for the first time, the reference to the veneration of Saturn using a black stone
to represent him. The examination o f the repetition concluded, it is good now
to see what terms remain.
As a reminder, these words of Ibn Wahshiyya follow a traditional incan-
tation to Zuhal. The text leaves no room for misunderstanding, as he clearly
identifies Zuhal as the source of evil, decay, destruction, sorrow, and unclean-
ness. Ibn Wahshiyya expresses concern that Zuhal has a vindictive personality
and a bad temper. Even the offerings to Zuhal are foul and uncouth - rather
than gold or incense, He is to be offered 'old hides, grease, strips of leather and
dead bats/ It is important to note while hides, grease, and leather are rather
low quality goods, the dead bats are actually carrion, that is filth (najasa) in
Islamic law, and so the offering of such to a spirit indicates that his charac-
ter is sharply different from any of the angelic spirits attributed to the other
planets, such as Jupiter or Venus. This places the spirit o f Zuhal closer in reso-
nance to the terrestrial jinn, which are said to be attracted to the dead, filth,
and spilled blood. It is difficult to stress this in the English language, but the
use of carrion is a tremendous taboo in Islam - even handling it necessitates
ablutions in some schools of jurisprudence. Any mainstream Muslim reading
this invocation would be justifiably shocked to see that one would offer dead
bats to Zuhal. Ibn Wahshiyya continues:

Know that He is the one who gives success in cultivation of the earth
and growth or its opposite to plants; He revealed to the Moon what I
put down in this book of mine and the Moon revealed it to His idol, and

38
 I was taught it by the idol of the Moon just like I now teach it to you.
Preserve this because it is your life on which you rely and on it depends
the growth of your fields and your fruits which are the matter of your life
and your hope, during your lifetime, of comfort, affluence, safety, and
complete health.

Know that I have prayed to this god, Saturn, and in my prayer I have
asked His idol to benefit with this book of mine everyone who reads it.
The idol revealed to me: Tour prayer has been heard and your offering
accepted.' I did this because I felt sorry for the sons of my kind because
of the anguish of their poverty and the abundance of their misery.
[Nabataean Agriculture, p. 151]

This section is very significant, because the author admits that he has person-
ally tried this particular spell, praying to a black stone idol, and that Zuhal has
directly spoken to him through the black stone. The term 'black stone' is delib-
erately evocative of the black stone in Mecca embedded in the Kaaba. As an
educated Arab who uses Islamic language, Ibn Wahshiyya is deliberately push-
ing the envelope.
The Saturnine deity can be further understood through some of the prayers
directed towards it. Ibn Wahshiyya's Nabataean Agriculture records a prayer to
Zuhal, which the Picatrix compiler both cites and includes in its entirety, indi-
cating that it was considered highly effective. The text is slightly strange, as it
wanders between the second person ('you') and the third person ('he'), but this
style is likely in imitation of the Quran which uses similar shifts of person. This
spell will be discussed further below in the Third Section as a contemporary
magical operation. Yet for the moment, it is good to note some of the charac-
teristics of the deity which the spell outlines. The text reads:

Oh Saturn, we address ourselves to You, standing, we ask and we honor

You with obedience and humility; we address You, standing and facing
the exalted master, alive and eternal, solid in His power and dominion.
He is eternal in his heaven and mighty in his dominion, focused in His

39
 efforts and His great works. He is over all, His power is over all living
things on earth, and they endure by His endurance. By His power and
His might He began them, and He causes them to continue; He causes
us to endure, and by His eternity and perpetuity, He brings permanence
on earth. By His might, He causes the waters to ebb and flow. Living, He
causes life to move, because He is himself alive.

He is cold, as is His nature. Through the influence of His high realm,

the trees grow, and the earth becomes heavy under the weight o f His
movements; if He wishes, He causes beings to become what they are not.
Yet He is wise and a creator by His might and intelligence; His knowing
extends to all things.

The text is lengthy, so it is good to pause again here for analysis. As we said
above, the cardinal rule of any textual analysis is that when authors mean
something, they'll repeat themselves. With this in mind, we note the repeti,'
tion of the terms 'eternal,' 'power,' 'endure,' and 'heavy/weight.' These suggest
a deity that is seen to be timeless or to have power over the course of time. It is good
to indicate here that these are not terms that are used o f the other six planetary
gods, and since clearly those gods are quite ancient, we understand that Saturn
is 'ancient' in a truly cosmic sense. There are other significant terms here, but
we will continue the review looking for repetition. We can return now to the
text to see what terms are repeated:

Hail, lord of the heavens, may Your name be holy, pure and honored.
We obey You; we address ourselves to Your ancientness, we call You by
Your names, Your ancientness, Your nobility and honor. We demand
from You whom we respect to strengthen our mind, that it be strong
and enduring and dwell in us while we live. Then when we die, ward off
the worms and reptiles from our flesh. You are a merciful and ancient
teacher, and no one can save the one You condemn. You are persistent
in Your words and deeds, and You regret not Your acts. You are slow
and profound in Your powers. You are a master whose deeds cannot

40
 be undone, and what You forbid cannot be done by another. You are
respected in all Your actions and unique in Your kingdom. You are the
lord of the other planets, and the very stars fear the sound of Your move-
ment and tremble before Your gaze.

We ask and demand You to avert Your evil from us, and in Your purity,
to treat us well. By Your good and noble names, we avert Your evil, and
we draw from Your virtue. By Your names, by Your True Name which
You love more than the others, treat us well and grant what we ask.

Here, the word 'endurance' appears again, and 'ancientness.' There is a curi-
ous sort of paradox: Zuhal is said earlier in the spell to be eternal, yet later He
is ancient at the same time. How, then, can an eternal being be 'old'? Being
'eternal' implies not experiencing the process of time, or being outside of time.
By 'ancient' then, the text must be stressing that the Saturnine deity is a truly
primordial entity, unlike the other younger gods who follow later. The text also
stresses the fact that the Saturnine deity is a deity of hardiness (endurance),
though it is the tirelessness of a grizzled veteran, rather than a young athlete.
Like an old man, Saturn is heavy, sluggish, yet enduring. His power is not the
flashy and quick magic of the Sun or Mercury, and it is likely not invoked for
fast results (where the other planets might be), but it is a lasting power.
If the reader suspects that the case for Saturn's malevolence has been over-
stated by the author, it would be wise to remember that the term 'evil' (Arabic
sharr) occurs repeatedly across several texts. Also, the terms 'honor' and 'evil'
appear as repeated terms in this very passage. These likewise appear to be a
kind of contradiction: how can a being be evil, or the source of evil (as a related
text indicated above), and yet be honorable? The only possible answer is that
in the medieval mind, a deity or person could be malevolent, and yet have a
code of honor, or at least some frame of reference which humans might possi-
bly understand. Honor implies that the deity will acknowledge sacrifices and
prayers made in its honor, and that it will react accordingly. Equally, it implies
that the deity may be offended if it is approached without the proper respect
and humility. This point may be jarring to many contemporary occultists who

41
push for an anthrocentric narrative, but it is necessary to stress that most tradi-
tional spiritual or occult systems, while operating from a human standpoint,
have not placed Man at the sacred centre of their cosmology. If one accepts that
deities (by whatever name) are actual and independent beings, then attempt-
ing to approach them as equals is the very definition of hubris and/or stupid-
ity. This is not to say that exclusive, subservient worship (in the Abrahamic
sense) is necessary to work with a deity, but by comparison, one can speak to
one's professional or political superior with deep and genuine respect, without
actually worshipping them.
Having discussed those aspects of the text which are repeated, it is good
to review those which occur on their own. Saturn is said to be cold, and this
follows Islamic cosmology which holds that planets and living beings are 'hot'
or 'cold' by nature.4Saturn is cold by nature, which could be because He is elder-
ly, or else because He is a chthonic figure. The text also says that His power is
slow, but this suggests the relentless, grinding power of a glacier - it does not
move quickly, but there is nothing which can resist its momentum. Even more
significant is the line which states: 'You are the lord of the other planets, and
the very stars fear the sound of Your movement and tremble before Your gaze.'
Ibn Wahshiyya is saying clearly that Zuhal is the master of the other powers,
and that they are subject to His will. He goes further, stating that the other
deities actually fear Zuhal. This raises some very serious questions about why
one deity would fear another. This point will be explored further below.
We may now consider The Picatrix, which has a great deal to say about the
character and resonances of Zuhal.5While it has more in general to say about
Zuhal than Nabataean Agriculture, it was compiled later and uses the Agriculture
as one of its sources, so it is necessary to consider it second. We then look not

4 The esoteric master David Beth has alerted me to the fascinating, possibly related concepts
of hot and cold spirits and their occult points as operated within the Haitian Vodou tradi-
tion.
5 The following passages (on pp. 43 -47 ) rely on the recent translation of Ouroboros Press by
Hakim Atallah. Picatrix. G h a ya t A l-H ah im . The G oal o f the W ise (2002). Some necessary emen-
dations to the translation have been made in places, indicated by editorial brackets.

42
only for repetition within The Picatrix itself, but try to see if it echoes any themes
in Ibn Wahshiyya's works. On Zuhal, it reads [Book 3.1]:

Saturn for example is the planet whose source holds great strength
and has the knowledge of mysterious orbit and the power to obtain the
reason behind things and the ability to find their intentions, the spell of
wonders and knowledge of secret and mysterious issues. It also rules
the Hebrew and Coptic languages and for external body parts, it rules
the right ear, the outside parts and the spleen as an internal organ, which
also is considered the source of the black [-] mixture of the body and the
joints and that which holds the whole parts together.

Its fabrics: all kinds of rough fabrics, its professions: leather tanning,
farming and building and [mining] and it rules the repulsive tastes like
the wild pear; as for locations, it rules black mountains, dark valleys,
basements, wells, graveyards and the wilderness.

Its jewels: onyx, black stones, and loadstone. Its metals: lead, iron, and
everything else that has turned black, putrefied and stinky smelling.
Its plants: oak, safflower, carob, palm tree, caraway, boxthorn, cumin,
onion and all hard-leaved plants and thorny harmful trees. Its drugs:
aloe, myrrh, their equivalent, wild castor-oil plant and wild colocynth.
Its scents: wisteria and licorice.

Its animals: every dark, black and ugly animal like black camels, sheep,
pigs, wolves, monkeys, dogs, cats and all birds with a long neck and gruff
voice like ostriches, buzzards, owls, vermin, crows, bats, cranes and all
stinky, dirty animals living underground. Its colors: black, dark colors
and gray, and finally its symbol:

43
 We will employ the same technique as above, and begin with those attri­
butes that The Picatrix repeats both within itself, or echoes from the Nabataean
Agriculture (which it cites at times). The text repeats the terms 'black' or 'dark'
several times, stressing that black animals, trees and minerals are sacred to
Zuhal. The use of the term 'black stone' is not accidental - the Picatrix author
is aware that the Saturnine idol is itself a Black Cube of some kind, and is
referencing the Kaaba, as Ibn Wahshiyya has done prior. The text also refer-
ences 'knowledge' and 'secret' several times. This indicates that Zuhal rules
over strange and unknown things, mysteries, secrets, and matters generally
considered hidden or taboo. He is not, by contrast, the god of public knowl-
edge (like Mercury), and one does not approach Saturn to apprehend things
which can be easily discovered by studies, in books, or via normal channels of
information. Rather, Zuhal is a deity who guards secrets, grudges, things whis-
pered, and mysteries that are buried by time or other forces. Zuhal is not the
god of the researcher, so much as the god of the thief who steals the research
of another. He is the patron of grave-robbers and archaeologists, who crack
open the tombs and secrets of the dead, only to hoard them in remote loca-
tions. Whenever a movie shows knowledge concealed in a secret laboratory, or
ancient secrets sealed behind vault doors, that is a manifestation of Saturnine
power. The sigil noted above looks to be a partial rending of the better known
Saturnine sigil:

Later, The Picatrix elaborates on Zuhal's influence [Book 3.7]:

S aturn' s power is cold, hard and its core is made of misfortune, corrup-
tion, stinky, vicious, betrayal and is scary. Saturn also if he gets hold
of any matter it betrays; separates and scares. It has the pursuance of

44
 gardens, rivers, plowing, farming, provides with a lot of money, cheap-
ness, poverty, disputes, traveling to far bad places, it also has the signs of
depression, grudge, cunning, circumcision, refuge, no socialization and
every other matter which has to do with evil, forcefulness, jail, change,
fatigue, hard work, weakness, corruption, truthful words, friendliness,
determination and old age, advocacy, building, [depressions], [fear],
too much thinking, worries, experiences, anger, insistent, doing less
goodness, concerns, sadness, difficulties, grimness, death, cheating,
inheritance, accusations, old things, brooding, too much talking, the
knowledge of secrets, the mysterious side of things, and if Saturn is
retrograde it holds the signs of disgrace and weakness. It also has the
signs of binding insistence [restraint] on certain matters, and if Saturn
as it is retrograde happens to face another planet, it weakens that planet
too.

These passages reveal a great deal about the way that the Ghayat/Picatrix tradi-
tion understands Zuhal. The Picatrix here stresses terms that indicate 'fear,'
'betrayal,' 'age,' and 'depression/sorrow,' These do not present a very pleas-
ant character of the deity, in fact, Zuhal seems to be personified as a grim,
curmudgeonly figure. Significantly, it notes that the deity has dominion over
secret knowledge, which has been discussed above. There is a definite unpleas-
antness to the way the planet is described, as its odor is repugnant, reeking.
Most significantly, Saturn is dark and dreadful, even menacing. If a plant,
stone, animal, or place is rough, bitter, foul-smelling or foul-sounding, or dark
colored, it belongs to Saturn. These traits are considered distinctive attributes
of Saturn, and reflect how Muslim magicians understood the nature of the
deity.
In going beyond The Picatrix, we note that its compiler repeats the earli-
er words of Ibn Wahshiyya, that Saturn is cold. At the risk of re-stating what
that transmission has already explained so clearly, we should alert the read-
er once more to the important fact that Zuhal is understood in this particu-
lar Islamic tradition as a cold, harsh, distant power. Zuhal is the icy, harsh
power that embodies restraint - which can come from sickness, weakness,

45
age, imprisonment, isolation, and even death. He is the deity that symbol-
izes restraint, and his influence corrupts and distorts the power of the other
planets, to the point that the Picatrix tradition warns against attempting
planetary magic if Saturn is adversely placed or retrograde, as the tradi-
tion holds that Saturn's restraining power will limit or distort an other-
wise successful magical working. This is echoed strongly towards the end
of The Picatrix in Book 4 .4 , where the text relates the 'secret natures' of the
planetary intelligences. Of Saturn it says, "The secret nature of Zuhal is the
power of restraint, sealing secrets, destroying lands, troubling the heart, and
becalming waters." Clearly, the Saturnine deity is not only able to overpower
human affairs, but to restrain the workings of other deities.
Like Nabataean Agriculture, The Picatrix contains several spells for contacting
the Saturnine deity. These will be discussed later as recommended practices
in Section Three, but it would be wise to explore one here. The Picatrix reads in
Book III:

When you address Saturn, dress yourself in black. Betake yourself to the
proper place on Saturday, having in hand an iron ring, and take with
you a censor in which you place charcoal burning with incense. [Recipe
of incense omitted for brevity]. Having censed the place, speak thus:

'Oh great master who possesses a great name and who is situated above
all planets, you [who are placed] high and in an elevated place. You are
the Lord Saturn, cold and dry, shadowy, author of good, true in your
friendship, sincere in your promises, persistent and tenacious in your
friendships and enmities, of tenacious and profound intellect, true in
your sayings and your promises, unique in your operations, isolate,
apart from the other gods, with sorrow and suffering, distant from
mindless pleasure. You are the old one, the ancient, at once wise and
a destroyer of good judgement, you mix good and evil. Sad and unhap-
py is he who vexes you, happy is he whom you favor. In you are placed
virtue and power, a spirit of doing good and evil. I demand, father and
lord, by your high names and your marvelous actions to do for me such

46
 and such... I call you by your names, oh Heylil, you in the seventh heaven:
Zuhal (Arabic), Saturn (Latin), Keyvan (Persian), Chronos (Greek), Sani
(India).'

This text echoes the element o f 'cold' and adds to it 'dry.' It includes the dichot-
omy that Zuhal is far away, above all other planetary spheres, and it is good to
note once more that 'Zuhal' in Arabic actually means 'the distant,' or 'the alien.'
One notes also the dichotomy between good and evil, since the invoker clearly
hopes to gain one and avoid the other. This particular spell is also quite inter-
esting, because the invoker demonstrates the Hermetic thinking that what-
ever entity he or she calls 'Zuhal' in Arabic is the same entity that a European
calls 'Saturn' or 'Chronos,' or a Persian calls 'Keyvan,' or an Indian calls 'Sani.' It
is significant that Saturday in Arabic is understood to be Saturn's day, despite
the fact that in Arabic it is simply calledyom al-sebt, meaning 'the seventh day.'
The text describes, finally, the people who are most vulnerable to Zuhal's
influence:

S aturn is used to ask for needs that you desire from chieftains, nobles,
presidents, kings, old people and dead people, criminals, recipients, the
people benefiting of inheritance, heroes, deputies, peasants, builders,
slaves, thieves, parents, grandparents and prominent people and if you
are sad or sick with a deadly disease and every other similar request of
the same nature ask for it from Saturn with the help o f a drawing that I
make for you. [Book 4.7]

This is a very broad list of people and professions. On the one hand, this can be
understood to be a list of people who have a natural Saturnine resonance; on
the other hand, it can indicate that certain classes or types of people are espe-
cially vulnerable to Saturn's influence. Some of these, like kings and rulers,
are shared by Jupiter, and others, like heroes, by Mars. Saturn, however, has
several that are unique to himself, like criminals and the dead. It is noteworthy
that Islamic tradition and the pre-Islamic Arab and Persian traditions lack a
coherent doctrine of necromancy, because they did not really have a belief in

47
the effective dead. They were certainly ahead of their time in having celestial
magic, and elaborate hierarchies of spirits and angels, but there are no records
that relate to people working magic through ghosts, because these cultures had
relatively few accounts of ghosts or phantoms. They were not taboo so much as
they were ignored or discounted. Ghouls and spirits, however, were counted
as being very real, and as Nabataean Agriculture and The Picatrix show, the magi-
cians of these cultures believed very much in the visible summoning of spirits,
even in front of an audience.
Nevertheless, Zuhal is said to have influence over death and the dead. Since
necromancy is not an attested Islamic practice in text or contemporary folklore,
we may understand that The dead' refers to affairs that are related to the dead,
such as inheritance, or knowledge that disappears with the dead, or similar
such things.6One notes also the curious passage quoted above on p.40, where
the invoker prays, “Then when we die, ward off the worms and reptiles from
our flesh." Saturn appears to be connected to the state of the corpse, which has
been interred at this point. As Islamic tradition holds that the spirit remains in
the grave until Judgement Day, perhaps the idea here is that Saturn can main-
tain the corpse (the abode of the spirit) in a better state than it might otherwise
achieve. Nevertheless, Saturn has a very chthonic aspect and is connected to
the soil, especially that which is subterranean. He has an agricultural nature,
but this is related primarily to those things which grow underground (like
turnips), not above ground (like corn). He is also the lord of deep, dark places
like caves, caverns, graves, and things which have been buried, or blackened
with time, and also those animals which live deep underground. This is a very
interesting feature for a planetary deity which was thought to be Tar away" on
the very edge of space/time. Perhaps this is because in the medieval mind, the
deep underground is also a kind of Tar away,' and closer to the subterranean
kingdom which Zuhal was thought to inhabit.
It is worth noting that in the Iranian tradition, which is part of The Picatrix,
the distant (Persian 'Keyvan') is said to be extremely cold, and yet to be directly

6 Nevertheless, Saturn’s connection to the dead will be discussed further below.

48
connected to the underworld.7This seems paradoxical, unless one accepts that
the ancient Islamic conception of the Saturnine deity had the dual aspect of
being alien and removed, yet also deeply subterranean. This is likely coming
from the idea that the orbit (eqlim) of Saturn was understood to be spherical,
and so Saturn must be as far below us as He is above, and so those deepest
places in the earth become sacred to Him by virtue of their being 'distant' from
us.

Saturnine Appearances: Theophanies

In considering the Islamic understanding o f the Saturnine deity, it would also
be good to consider the way that the entity is said to manifest visibly when it
is called. It is understood that the deity's manifestation is a literal phenom-
enon, but also that its panoply is symbolic of the Saturnine deity's qualities.
While Nabataean Agriculture is generally silent on the appearance of Saturn, The
Picatrix and Kitab al-Ustuwwatas both provided some visual description of the
Saturnine theophany (divine appearance) and also the idols o f Zuhal.
The Kitab al-Ustuwwatas is a curious Islamic text, which transmits a
Saturnine anecdote from India.8The text relates that at a time when India was
still uncivilized and people were essentially 'savages,' there ruled a king called
Safnadula. He had a dream in which Saturn appeared to him as a 'black man,'
and instructed him to convene all his governors together for a religious cere-
mony before the black stone idol of Saturn. Safnadula did so, and all 72 of his
nobles came for the religious event. The nobles and the statue were incensed,
and an animal was sacrificed before the idol. The 'black man' emerged from
the idol, and bestowed one of his 72 spirits to each of the nobles, along with the
secret name of that spirit, so that the noble would be able to invoke or evoke the

7 See Philippe Gignoux “Hell I. Zoroastrianism” in Encylopedia Ira n ica Vol. XII, Fasc. z, 2003.
pp. 154-156.
8 See Charles Burnett. “Remarques Paléographiques et philologiques sur les noms d’anges et
d’esprits dans les traités de magie traduits de l’arabe en latin” in M élanges de L ’Ecole Française
de Rom e, Tome 114 (2002), pp. 657-668.

49
spirit when he returned to his home province.9The manuscript, interestingly,
provides the names of the 72 spirits, in case some aspiring magician wishes
to try such a ceremony at home.101These spirits are said to have entered into
the nobles, and empowered them to be effective at 'civilizing' the various king-
doms which make up India. It is worth noting here that one major distinction
of medieval Islamic magic is that there is to be a recurring theme o f a magi-
cian being able to evoke a spirit visibly before a crowd, with the expectation
that the entity will appear in visible form .11 This tradition is also interesting,
because it connects Saturn with the earliest levels of government, and depicts
an ancient time in which Saturn is the only deity, and the patron of the state.
This is echoed by the Roman tradition, in which Saturn is the founding deity
of the Italian kingdom.
In terms of the theophanies, the Picatrix compiler cites two sources: one is
The Interpretation of Spiritual Talismans and the other is The Benefits of the Rocks of
Mercury. The first of these describes Zuhal as appearing as a crow-headed and
camel-footed man, seated on a throne, with a scepter in the right hand and
a spear in the left hand. The crow and camel are both noted in The Picatrix as
being Saturnine animals. The crow is a black bird with an ugly voice, and the
camel is a tough, enduring animal with an ugly voice, and inhabits the desert
(Zuhal's territory). The crow represents wisdom and malice, while the camel
represents endurance. It is also noteworthy that being camel-footed was a
demonic attribute in the Arab folklore of North Africa and Andalusia. Even in
contemporary popular culture, the demoness 'A i'sha Kandisha is said to be a
beautiful woman with camel's feet. This is analogous to Christian folklore in
which the Devil can be recognized by his cloven-hooves. Zuhal is seated on a
throne (or chair) because He is a sovereign, and He bears a scepter as a symbol of
dominion, and the spear is indicative o f His ability to afflict harm or hardship.

9 The occurrence of the number “72” may be significant. It calls to mind the Egyptian tradition,
in which the god o f darkness (Seth) also has 72 companions.
10 The list o f names in Latin and Arabic appear in Appendix I.
11 If one assumes that magic is not a real force, this seems a very strange thing to suggest
to someone who has the financial wherewithal to actually acquire these texts (which were
extremely costly).

50
An alternate yet related description is the same, but has Zuhal standing on a
pulpit, which symbolizes that He is said to be a master of wisdom, secrets, and
the religious sciences.
The second theophany, described in Benefits of the Rocks ofMercury, describes
the Saturnine deity as a man who holds a whale over his head, and is standing
atop a dragon. This is a very interesting description, as dragons are curiously
quite rare in Arabic sources, though more common in Persian or Indian. The
dragon symbolizes dark, chaotic forces which are under Saturn's control. He is
not spearing or killing the animal (like St George or Archangel Michael), rather
it is the foundation of his power. Saturn in turn supports the whale, which in
Islamic cosmology supports the cosmos itself. This image makes Zuhal into a
sub-chthonic figure.
Alternately, the same text
describes Saturn as He stands atop
a dragon, and bears a sickle and
a scepter, alternately just a large
scythe, and is robed in grey and
black (see image on the right, from
Krakow, Biblioteka Jagiellonska,
MS 793, from Pingree's edition).
One notes that the scepter indi-
cates dominion, and the scythe
is the instrument of reaping. As
one might expect, Saturn himself
is clothed in dark colors, namely
blacks and greys.
As noted above, the Kitab al-
Ustuwwatas describes a Saturnine
theophany from India, in which
the deity manifests in the dream
of King Safnadula, and then later
manifests in public view after a
ritual is publicly performed. Here

51
the deity appears as a dark-skinned man, dressed in robes of black, green, and
yellow. The black is chthonic, while green is a reference to the agricultural
aspect of Saturn, and the color yellow is likely a reference to the Hindu belief
that Saturn (Sani) is the son of the solar deity Surya. Thus in all three theoph-
anies, one notes the repetition of the Saturnine deity appearing as a male figure
in dark colors (grey or black).

Saturnine Appearances: Idols

The Picatrix, Nabataean Agriculture, and Kitab al-Ustuwwatas all mention the
worship of the Saturnine deity involving an idol, to which sacrifices are made.
Ibn Wahshiyya in Nabataean Agriculture states that the idol is a black stone,
which should be placed on black sand. The Kitab al-Ustuwwatas mentions that
the Saturnine deity emerges from his idol after an animal is sacrificed, but
does not describe the idol itself. This is paralleled by an account in The Picatrix
(3.9) where the anonymous compiler describes a ceremony from the Kitab
al-Istimatis, in which one makes an idol with iron feet, iron of course being a
metal of Saturn. The idol is to be dressed in clothes of black, green, and red.
This directly parallels the supposed Indian account of Saturn, except that red
(also a solar color) replaces yellow.
However, The Picatrix compiler also uses a second account from the Kitab
al-Istimatis tradition, in which he describes the Saturnine deity as a cube.
Specifically, he notes that Saturn's 'soul' is an entity called 'Brimas,' which has
six component souls, which are top, bottom, left, right, front and back. An
additional spirit holds them together, like a binding agent. He states that their
names are (Picatrix 3.9): Brimas (The Composite Soul), then Tus (Top), Khrus
(Bottom), Ciyus (Right), Diriyus (Left), Tamus (Front), Dorus (Back), and Tihitus
(Binder). While the color of the cube is not mentioned, given that the text has
explicitly stated above that Saturn's color is black, it is almost certainly a Black
Cube.
As noted previously, the description of the Saturnine deity as a 'black stone'
or as a six-sided idol could only have been interpreted as a direct reference
to the black stone (al-hajar al-aswad), of Mecca, which is the symbolic heart of
the Kaaba. For those unfamiliar with the legend, it is said that the black stone

52
fell from the heavens in the time of Adam and Eve, and has served as a sacred
marker since the dawn of humanity. While some believe it to be basalt or glass,
it is most likely predominantly iron ore if it is indeed the remnants of a mete-
orite. The legend of black iron falling from the sky, and becoming worshipped
by ancient pagan tribes suggests that it was originally an idol with no connec-
tion to the Abrahamic deity. This point will be discussed further below in the
Second Section (Saturnine Gnosis). Yet for the moment, suffice to say that
the Islamic tradition either suggests a humanoid idol dressed in black with
secondary colors, or else a black stone cube.

53
 Saturn in the Classical T radition

I
n the study of classical tradition and magic, the Saturnine deity occupies a
very complex position. This may be partially because the various myths and
traditions that include Saturn are themselves quite varied, even extremely so,
yet quite clearly address a singular deity and not a composite deity like Jupiter/
Zeus. It should also be noted that when we speak about 'classical' tradition,
we normally refer to the hybrid Hellenistic culture that was partially Greek
and partially Latin, and usually referred to as 'Roman' When we speak about
anything 'Roman' we need to be aware that there genuinely was such a thing
as Italic (or Latin) culture prior to Greek influences, but even that seems to
have had Etruscan influences. Greek and Italic language and culture were
separate, but did share some parallels due to their common Indo-European
heritage. Greek religion and myth might have had parallels to its Italian coun-
terparts, and when Greek learning and culture entered into Roman culture, it
had a profound effect on the Roman myths, if not rituals. That said, this chap-
ter will examine the deity known as 'Cronos' or 'Chronos' in Greek, and 'Saturn'
in Latin.12

12 For the sake o f ease in this chapter, we will use the proper name 'Saturn' as opposed to
‘Saturn/Cronos' unless otherwise noted.

55
 There is some dispute over the etymology o f the name 'Saturn' but the best
explanation to-date is that it is a Latin adaptation of the Etruscan underworld
god Satre. Satre was a malevolent chthonic figure, identified with the northern
direction, also with storms and earthquakes. There are rival explanations of
the name, but none are as tenable. 'Cronos' on the other hand, clearly stems
from Greek keir (to cut), and is connected with kar (action) in Sanskrit, which
yields karma. Saturn/Cronos is also connected with the agricultural func-
tion of cutting, in the sense of the harvest, and so the sickle has always been
the principal symbol of the Saturnine deity. As agriculture has various stag­
es (sowing, growing, harvest), Saturn was the deity responsible for the final
stage of agriculture, hence the scythe/sickle as a symbol. Of course, Saturn's
nature of harvesting was understood to be more broad than just agriculture
- Saturn was the harvester of all things, even the gods, as his mythology makes
plain. Saturn is not a creator deity; his role is more related to entropy within
the cosmic framework. Saturn/Cronos is identified also with Time. This may
be possibly due to Cronos' name being similar to 'chronos' (time) in Greek.
Time is itself a reaper, a force that ends the lives of all living beings and human
enterprises. The mythology of the Greeks and Romans shows that the empires
of the gods are vulnerable to time and change, and this negative aspect of time
is embodied by the Saturnine deity.
Saturn, according to Greek and Roman culture, was partnered with a female
consort, usually said to be his sister. Interestingly, the earlier accounts of the
deity suggest that this was Lua Mater, which translates as 'Mother Destruction.'
It is well known that in Indo-European religious systems, death and destruc-
tion are often embodied by female figures such as the Irish Morrigan and
Indian Kali Ma. Roman records report that the worship of this goddess, Lua
Mater, involved the offering of enemy weapons, taken as the spoils of victory,
which were immolated. It is likely that this sacrifice was part of a dual offer-
ing, in which the enemy combatants were burned (alive or dead) to Saturn,
while their arms and armor were burned simultaneously to Lua. Such a ritual
finds parallels in the purushamedha rites of the Vedas, which, like the Roman
human sacrifices, fell into disuse with time. While this may seem brutal, even
shocking to the contemporary reader, it should be kept in mind that the reli-

56
gious and sacrificial practices of the ancient world were often quite bloody,
as exemplified best by the Celts of Europe, and the Aztecs in the Americas.
The fact that Saturn's female counterpart was actually named 'destruction' is
strongly suggestive of Saturn's own dangerous nature. In later time, however,
as Saturn's nature was rehabilitated by the Roman state, his spouse became
identified as Ops, the Roman goddess of plenty and wealth. Her cult was cele-
brated in the Republic, like Saturn's, as a more benign agricultural tradition.
The Greeks, on the other hand, always identified Cronos with his sister Rhea,
the daughter of Gaia, who was (like Ops) associated with the benign aspects of
the agriculture and the harvest.
There are several conflicting myths that concern Saturn's parentage, but
the discrepancies are minor. The popular Greek account is that the parents of
Cronos were the titans Uranus and Gaia, and the alternate version is that He
was the son of the titan-serpents Ophion and Eurynome. Tradition claims that
Cronos overthrew his own father, in some versions with the help of his sister
Rhea (Latin Ops), and then seized control over the cosmos. In the account
featuring Uranus, Cronos uses a sickle or scythe to sever his father's geni-
tals, which are cast into the ocean, and so the sickle/scythe becomes the chief
emblem of Cronos/Saturn thereafter.
The Roman account is somewhat different, though it shows Greek influ-
ences. Macrobius takes the traditional Hellenic account, and helps inter-
pret it using Latinate terminology for his Roman audience. He states in the
Saturnalia (1.8.) that initially there was Primal Chaos, and there was not yet
any such concept or being as Time, because Chaos was itself eternal (cum chaos
esset, tempora non fuisse). When the primordial being Coelus (cosmos) came
into being, its appearance ruptured the purity of Chaos, and severed existence
from non-existence. This act o f 'cutting' Chaos away from the newborn cosmos
created Time (Saturn), which Macrobius infers is the remnant of Chaos with-
in existence. This is evident in that Time brings change and instability to all
things in time, even to gods and kingdoms. Time is chaotic, and therefore
hostile to the cosmos, and Greek and Roman tradition agree that as soon as
Saturn/Cronos came into being, He attacked his own cosmic 'father,' depos-
ing him and taking control of the cosmos. Macrobius also points out that the

57
Saturnalia and Cronia festivals are absolutely wild, chaotic revels in which all
social norms and taboos were violated, and the social order was completely
inverted. This celebration of Chaos, which was otherwise entirely antithetical
to the Roman state, is a recognition of Saturn as a being that ultimately stems
from Chaos, despite his 'creation' coming from the act o f Coelus (cosmos).
The Greek and Roman myths agree that the rule of the Saturnine deity was
a golden age of plenty and enlightenment, and all beings thrived under the
care of the monarch. However, Saturn himself was deposed by his own chil-
dren. When it was reported to him that his children would pose a threat to his
existence, Saturn consumed the infant deities whole. Sculptors and painters
have presented this scene grotesquely, usually with an old man chewing on
the flesh of a screaming infant. While this image is colorful and provocative,
the traditions indicate that Saturn swallowed his children whole, much as a
person might swallow a medical pill. The children are contained, undamaged
but dormant, within the being of the Saturnine deity until his youngest child
(Zeus/Jupiter) releases them by use of a purgative, and then the younger gods
war against Saturn and the Titans. Saturn was deposed by Jupiter, but Jupiter
was unable to destroy Saturn, just as Saturn could not destroy Coelus. Gods,
it must be noted, are resilient beings, yet in mythology they can be maimed,
crippled, and imprisoned. Saturn, then, is placed in chains, and banished to
the chthonic realm of Tartarus, which He is said to rule.13The 'chains' of Saturn
become one of the definitive parts of his divine panoply thereafter.
While Cronos is relegated to being a sort of god-devouring monster in
Hellenic tradition, the Roman Saturn is a much more beloved figure. Although
Jupiter, Mars, and Minerva become the major gods of the empire, the Roman
state and its historians acknowledged that Saturn was the original deity of
the Roman people, and in fact they claimed that Italians themselves were
descended from Saturn. The Mons Saturnius is one of the hills on which Rome
was built, and the oldest temple in Rome belongs to Saturn. Saturn has his

13 According to an alternate tradition, Saturn is banished to Italy, where he fathers the Italic
people. This corresponds to Caesar's remarks that the Gauls o f France considered them-
selves descended from Dis Pater.

58
own priesthood, and the state treasury was kept at his temple. The original
name of the Italian settlement situated on the site o f Rome was 'Saturnium.'
Further, Saturn enjoyed a week-long series of revels each year, which began
on 17 December. For a deposed deity, Saturn enjoyed a very profound respect,
second perhaps only to Jupiter. The very memory of Saturn's prior rule was not
one of a cruel despot, but as noted above, a golden age where all living beings
lacked for nothing.
Yet Saturn's character is not benign, and there are no records that suggest
otherwise. Being the king of an age of plenty does not suggest that the
Saturnine deity was a kindly master, but rather that under His reign, the earth
did not withhold its bounty. Saturn was the origin of the western image o f the
Grim Reaper, and as the deity identified with harvesting, He was expected to
harvest plants, animals, and humans alike. Macrobius reports (1.7) that in the
earliest memories of the Italic peoples, Saturn was worshipped with human
sacrifices; later, when this practice fell into disfavor, torches were burned in
His honor as a substitute. Modern scholars, however, of the classical period
argue that Macrobius is only partially correct: there is no question that human
sacrifice was part of the worship of the Reaper. However, while Macrobius tries
to suggest that burning torches substituted for human sacrifices, Versnel has
discussed the considerable evidence that the gladiatorial games were carried
out as ritual observances (munera) to Saturn .14The practice of human sacrifice
was not solely an Italic custom. The Greeks too performed human sacrifices to
Cronos on the day of his festival, the Cronia. Pophyry reports that in the city of
Rhodes, on the day of the Cronia, a criminal was taken to the gates of the city,
given alcohol, and then slaughtered.15
The Greeks and Romans had conflicting, even paradoxical views of the
world under Saturn's rule. Both cultures agreed that at some distant point in
time, the Saturnine deity had been master of the three worlds, celestial, terres-
trial, and chthonic (alternately, earth, ocean, and underworld). While Saturn
ruled, the world was a utopia, a golden age of plenty. All were equal, and thrived

14 Versnel, pp. 211-215.

15 Ibid. p. 100.

59
somehow under Saturn's rule. The celebrated Roman poet Virgil mentions this
in his fourth Eclogue, lines 5-8:

Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas;

Magnus ah integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Satumia regna,
iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.

Now comes the final era of the Sibyl's song;

The great order of the ages is born afresh.
And now justice returns, the return of Saturn's reign;
Now a new lineage is sent down from high heaven.

Clearly, Virgil is not suggesting the return of the Saturnine kingdom as a hideous
nightmare. Nevertheless, the Saturnine kingdom was not ideal, for which
reason it had to be overthrown by the Olympian gods. Saturn was an aspect of
Chaos, and so the equality enjoyed by all was an equality of utter subjugation.
In fact, the gods themselves had absolutely no part in the Saturnine empire,
since Saturn committed cannibalism, consuming the deities and holding them
within his own essence. The Titans may have enjoyed His rule, but arguably
they also were monstrous aberrations that had survived from the same primor-
dial Chaos as their king. It should not be forgotten that the hundred-handed
monsters known in Greek as the Hecatonchires or Latin as Centimanes were actu-
ally the brothers of Saturn, and differed from Him largely in that their chaotic
essence was evident physically, where Saturn's was internal. The eventual war
o f the gods and the titans was the battle of Chaos against order, as with similar
battles across many mythologies.
The Roman festival of the Saturnalia (Greek Cronia) deserves some consid-
eration. Macrobius (1.7) reports that initially, the entire tenth month of the
year, December, was sacred to Saturn, while the eleventh, January, was sacred
to Janus. Within the tenth month, the ancient Italians, and the Romans who
followed them, celebrated the festival of Saturn for seven days, from 17-23
December. The Saturnalia was wild, even debauched, and orgiastic at times.

60
During this period, all norms and taboos were overturned. Servants became
masters, and masters became servants. Servants could (and did) abuse and
insult their owners, and may even have taken sexual liberties with them, much
as their masters would have used their slaves at a whim throughout the year.
Celebrants greeted each other with the cry ‘io Saturnalia' which served to remind
each other that they were celebrating a religious occasion. A Saturnine Prince,
the Princeps Satumalicus, was appointed in place of the usual king or emperor,
to serve as the master of ceremonies, and his dictates were generally followed.
Small, humorous gifts were given by friends, and it was a time for pranks, fool-
ishness, and otherwise normally unacceptable behavior. Exceptionally during
the Saturnalia festival, the chains or cords which normally tied the legs of
Saturn's idol were undone, symbolizing His temporary release from bondage.
In our contemporary spiritual cynicism, one might think 'Yes, well no doubt
things didn't get too carried away - what slave would abuse his owner, know-
ing social norms would go back to normal on December 24th?' Or equally, one
might reasonably ask why such a bizarre festival was celebrated at all, when it
must have caused some awkwardness when it was over, much alike any good
party does when the majority of the guests are intoxicated and wild. The reply
to both objections is that the ancients truly did believe that the gods were
real beings, and not simply the vapid archetypes that modern occultism has
reduced them to. The Romans and Greeks believed that Saturn/Cronos was
an actual deity, malevolent in character, and that this festival was intended to
appease Him, so that He would not curse them with long-term or even perma-
nent social chaos. If the celebrations were carried out half-heartedly, people
believed that Saturn would be angered, and thus debauchery and madness
needed to be embraced and reveled in. To the author's knowledge, there are
no records of Roman nobles objecting publicly to the festivals; at worst, some
admitted that they tried to escape from it by traveling at that time. It was only
later in the Christian period that the Saturnalia festival was downplayed, and
somewhat suspiciously, December 25thbecame a prominent Christian holiday
which involves the exchange of presents.
Further, and this will be already obvious to the reader, the Romans consid-
ered the seventh day of the Roman week as 'Saturn's Day,' which survives

61
even into modern English as 'Saturday' It is curious that given the number of
Roman deities that are attested, one of the seven days was given to this deity.
This suggests again that despite the popularity of the later gods, the figure of
Saturn remained of major importance to the Roman citizenry, as days o f the
week were named only after major divinities.

Saturn A s A Mag ical Deity

Saturn/Cronos appears in classical and medieval Hermetic magic as a force
of restraint, divination, or malefica. Plutarch tells us of a magical island in the
West which is supposed to be the prison of Cronos. Confined to a grotto and
sleeping on a golden stone, Cronos rules the island and is being served by his
former subjects in the shape of daemons. Locked in a magical sleep in which
he receives secret wisdom, he communicates with humans who come to the
island in regular intervals through the intermediation of the daemons. These
appear to the human islanders in dreams or even in liminal waking states to
reveal His gnosis. This secret island and its mysteries are only accessible to the
magical dreamer who is able to relate to the dream-consciousness of this para-
disiacal world and its ruler, Cronos.
In the Papyri Graecae Magicae (pgm) we find repeated references to the
'chains of Cronos' as a force invoked for binding, or as something by which the
gods themselves swear. There is one particular spell called the 'Salt Oracle of
Cronos,' which is essentially a divination spell.
The pgm reports:

'Oracle of Cronos' in great demand, called 'little mill': Take two measures
of salt and grind with a handmill while saying the formula many times
until the god appears to you. Do it at night in a place where grass grows.
If while you are speaking you hear the heavy step of [someone] and a
clatter of iron, the god is coming bound with chains, holding a sickle.
But do not be frightened since you are protected by the phylactery that
will be revealed to you. Be clothed with clean linen in the garb o f a priest
of Isis. Offer to the god sage together with a heart of a cat and horse
manure.

62
 The formula to be spoken while you are mixing is this:

I call you, the great, holy, the one who created the whole inhabited
world, against whom the transgression was committed by your own
son, whom Helios bound with adamantine fetters lest the universe be
mixed together, you hermaphrodite, father of the thunderbolt, you who
hold down those under the earth, Aie Oi Paidalis Phrenoteicheido Stygardes
Sankleon / Genechrona Koirapsai Kerideu Thala-Mnia Ochota Anedei; come,
master, god, and tell me by necessity concerning the nn matter, for I am
the one who revolted against you, Paidolis Mainolis Mainolieus.’ These are
to be said while the salt is being ground.

And the formula which compels him is: ‘Kybdohris Koderieus Ankyrieus
Xantomoulis.’ You say these things when He appears threateningly, in
order that He might be subdued and speak about the things you ask.

The phylactery in great demand for him [is]: On the rib of a young pig
carve Zeus holding fast a sickle and this name: ‘Chthoumilon.’ Or let it be
the rib of a black, scaly, castrated boar.

Dismissal: Anaea Ocheta Thalamnia Keri-Deu / Koirapsia Genechrona

Sanelon Sty-Gardes Chleido Phrainole Paidolis laei, Go away, master of the
world, forefather; go to your own places in order that the universe be
maintained. Be gracious to us, lord.' [pgm iv . 3086-3124; italics mine]

The text makes a point of saying that the spell is 'in great demand,' which
suggests that it was known to be effective. Nevertheless, half of the spell is the
instructions for protecting oneself from the Titan's anger, as the instructions
make clear that if Cronos appears, He will be angry. He must be compelled
to cooperate, and the magician must take precautions against Him. The spell
identifies Cronos as having knowledge of the future, which is an indicator of
His control over time. The spell is said to actually compel the god to appear,
and when He does, His panoply includes chains and a sickle. The god is not

63
expected to stay, and in fact the magician must insist that Cronos "go to [his]
own places in order that the universe be maintained/' in other words, that
Cronos must return to His star, and to the chthonic depths of Tartarus. If the
Saturnine deity were to remain, His presence would destabilize the cosmos,
because Saturn is himself a being of Chaos.
Speaking of Chaos, the pgm also mentions Cronos more directly in connec-
tion with Chaos, and as the scepter-bestower of the goddess Hecate. In pgm iv .
2841-2847, the scroll reads:

As everlasting band around your temples

You wear great Cronos' chains, unbreakable
And unremovable, and you hold in
Your hands a golden scepter. Letters around
Your scepter Cronos wrote himself and gave
To you to wear that all things stay steadfast:
Subduer and subdued, mankind's subduer,
And force-subduer; Chaos, too, you rule.

The text here states that Hecate, herself a Titan that survived the revolt of the
gods, wears the chains of Cronos. It cannot be thought that these chains are a
punishment - rather, they are symbols of the restraining and binding power of
the Saturnine deity. Likewise, the text states that Cronos has inscribed a magi-
cal formula on the scepter (like, torches) which Hecate bears. Immediately
after, the text states that Hecate rules Chaos - as the scepter is the emblem
of rule, and it has just been mentioned, the text is eluding that Cronos has
transmitted or delegated part of his power over Chaos to Hecate. This stands to
reason, as like Saturn, Hecate is a remnant of the golden age, who has uniquely
survived the transition into the Hellenic age of the gods.
Saturn is not only a magical deity in the classical period, but is also invoked
in the medieval period which follows. Kieckhefer's work on medieval necro-
mancy, entitled Forbidden Rites, reports that a 15th century European text, the
Liber Angelis, contains a Saturnine experiment to destroy an enemy. It reads
(pp. 71-72):

64
 Later medieval books of magic are seldom shy about giving straightfor-
wardly harmful formulas. A fifteenth-century Liber de angelis, annulis,
karecteribus et imaginibus plantetarum (Book of angels, rings, characters,
and images of the planets) in the Cambridge University Library contains
an experiment called the Vindicta Troie (Vengeance of Troy), which can be
used to arouse hatred or to cause bodily harm or even death. The proce-
dure calls for making an image on the day and in the hour of Saturn, in
the name of the person to be harmed. The image must be made of wax,
preferably from candles used at a funeral. It should be as ugly as possible;
the face should be contorted, and there should be hands in place of feet
and vice versa. The victim's name should be inscribed on the forehead
of the image, the name of the planet Saturn on its breast, and the seals
or characters of Saturn between its shoulders. The operator should call
upon the spirits of Saturn to descend from on high and afflict the named
victim. The image should be fumigated with various substances, includ-
ing human bones and hair, then wrapped in a funeral cloth and buried in
some unclean place, face downward. If the magician wishes to harm any
particular member of the victim's body, there are instructions for bind-
ing the corresponding member on the image with a funeral cloth and
piercing the image with a needle; to kill the victim, the magician should
insert the needle into the spine, from the head down to the heart.

It is significant that this 'operation' or 'experiment' is called the Vindicta Troie

(Vengeance of Troy), which suggests that the necromancer performing it
would have understood the rite to be classical (Greco-Roman) in terms of its
origin period.

Saturnine Appearances
Western culture has many images of Saturn that have survived from antiquity.
These include statues, carvings, and later, paintings. Traditionally, Saturn is
depicted as an older man, crooked but muscular. Usually He is heavily bearded.
He wears a black chiton, or robe, and in the Latin style His head is shrouded by
His toga (see image on p. 66). The shrouding of His head is a rare thing among

65
divinities, and is thought to symbolize His alien nature, or 'otherness,' and
likely also His chthonic nature. In the Republic and Empire, the legs of Saturn's
idol were bound with woolen cords, symbolizing the chains of His panoply. He
bears a scythe, or alternately a sickle (see images below). In many of the later
carvings of Saturn, especially those which emphasize His temporal aspect,
He is shown in the act of eating one of His godly offspring (p. 68, p. 118). This
grotesque image is something of a misrepresentation, as Saturn's devouring
of the gods was not that of a cannibal primarily, but intended as an imprison-
ment of their essence.

S aturnus -M alakbel (P almyra , 2 nd c . ce )

Raphael's depiction of Saturn (next page) is quite interesting, as he shows

Saturn seated with the toga, bearing the scythe, and riding in a chariot pulled
by a pair of serpentine dragons. This calls to memory the images of the Islamic
Zuhal, who stands atop a serpent or dragon. As noted previously, here Saturn
is not conquering or slaying the dragon; rather, He has leashed the dragon and
uses it as His vehicle. This indicates that Saturn is aligned with the chthonic and
chaotic forces of His environment, and that they are subject to His control.

66
 S aturn (18 th c . c e L isinio , from 16 th c . c e R aphael )

Saturn, for the Romans, also manifests as the planetary body, which is
named for Him. It is important to note that in Roman culture, there was no
distinction between the deity as an anthropomorphic entity, the deity as a
concept, or the deity as a planet. Venus, for example, was understood to be love
itself, as well as a beautiful woman, and a planet. In a similar vein, Saturn was
understood to be a grim grey god in chains in Tartarus, a cosmic principal, and
a malevolent planet that caused harm and injury to all that it shone upon. The
planet was believed by the Romans to be tremendously inauspicious. Propertius
reports in the Elegiarum (iv,i,86): Etgraue Satumi sidus in omne caput (The star of
Saturn is heavy on all heads). Likewise, Lucan states in the Pharsalia (1,651-652):
Summo si frigida caelo Stella nocens nigros Satumi accenderet ignis (From the cold
heavens, the hateful Saturnine star shines brightly).
It is clear that in His planetary form, Saturn was disliked by those who
followed astrology, and that His "star" was feared to bring bad luck to all on
whom it 'shone.' Saturn's negative astral influence continues to be a theme in
Hermetic texts, and finds strong parallels in the Islamic and Indian cults of
Saturn. This will be discussed further in Section Two.

67
The Demiurg e Saturn
Saturn, not surprisingly, is a significant figure in the Gnostic religions of the
classical period. The term 'Gnostic' refers to a broad group of mystery cults
which embraced a common set of terms and ideas, but Gnosticism never
became as monolith as the Christian religion, which eventually supplanted
and suppressed the Gnostic movement. A very basic summary of the classi-
cal Gnostic myth could be stated thusly: in the beginning, there is Primordial
Light sometimes called the pleroma 'perfect fullness,' or alternately, the kenoma
'perfect emptiness.' Beyond the light, there is the darkness of undifferentiated
Chaos. From Chaos there emerges a consciousness, the Demiurge ('Divine

D etail from 'S aturn ' by P. P. R ubens

68
Architect') which upon gaining self-awareness, creates six Archons ('spiritual
rulers'), to serve as its helpers. Together, the Demiurge and its Archons gener-
ate the seven celestial realms, which include the material world as part of the
lowest realm. They further create entire populations of divine and angelic
beings to fill the seven realms, and eventually create human and animal life on
earth. Gnostic tradition suggests that the Demiurge's appearance was, howev-
er, an aberration of the natural order, and that the spiritual pleroma/henoma is
essentially in opposition to the material cosmos. This being the case, many (not
all) Gnostic movements vilified the flesh, and sought to suppress it in order to
augment or nourish the spirit. This hatred of the material world may have
been borrowed from Christianity, where it likewise exists.
Despite the Hellenistic language used by many Gnostic groups, the
Saturnine deity had connections to the Abrahamic religious tradition. The
Demiurge, for example, was understood to be the deity who revealed the Torah
to Moses, and so the Jewish religion is understood by many Gnostic writers to
be thoroughly Demiurgic. This makes sense, especially given the cosmo-centric
nature of the Torah, which emphasizes the importance of the material world,
and which is largely silent about the spiritual afterlife. Moses is considered
to be a Saturnine prophet, a revealer of laws written by the cosmic architect.
Christianity, by contrast, is a pleromic religion, in that it suppresses the cosmic
nature of the human in favor o f 'spiritual' nature.
Many of the classical Gnostic movements identified Saturn with the
Demiurge, the cosmic architect. This association occurs explicitly as a result
of Saturn's association with the Hermetic or Neo-Platonic rule over the
seventh heaven. It also occurs implicitly through Saturn's supposed associa-
tion with the deity of the Old Testament, which is echoed later in the Picatrix
tradition that Saturn is lord of the Jews, via their celebration of the Sabbath.
These associations are evident when one examines several texts that record
Gnostic beliefs. Saturn, as the Demiurge, is called by several names in Gnostic
tradition. Most commonly, He is called laldabaoth, which is Aramaic for 'son
(yald) of chaos (baoth).' This is a reference to the Gnostic tradition that Saturn
emerged from the primordial Chaos, which He later uses to create the cosmos
and its creatures. Saturn is also referred to in some more polemical texts as

69
Saklas ('fool'); and Samuel (Venomous one of God' or 'blind one of God'), an
angelic name known from Hebrew tradition. Less commonly, other texts refer
to the Saturnine deity as Abrasax, Abraxas, or Ariael ('Lion of God').
The Gnostic text entitled "The Origin of the World” directly identifies the
seven powers, meaning the Demiurge and six Archons, with the seven planets.
It reads:

Seven appeared in chaos, androgynous. They have their masculine names

and their feminine names. The feminine name is Pronoia (Forethought)
[and the masculine name is] Sambathas, which is 'week'. And his son is
called Yao: his feminine name is Lordship. Sabaoth: his feminine name
is Deity. Adonaios: his feminine name is Kingship. Elaios: his feminine
name is Jealousy. Oraios: his feminine name is Wealth. And Astaphaios:
his feminine name is Sophia (Wisdom). These are the seven forces of
the seven heavens of chaos. Now the prime parent Yaldabaoth, since he
possessed great authorities, created heavens for each of his offspring
through verbal expression - created them beautiful, as dwelling places
- and in each heaven he created great glories, seven times excellent.
Thrones and mansions and temples, and also chariots and virgin spirits
up to an invisible one and their glories, each one has these in his heaven;
mighty armies of gods and lords and angels and archangels - countless
myriads - so that they might serve.16

One also finds Saturn associated directly with Ialdabaoth. The Gnostic text The
Secret Booh ofJohn, for example, identifies Saturn with the planetary realms and
the days of the week. It reads:

Yaldabaoth is the first ruler, who took great power from his mother.
Then he left her and moved away from the place where he was born. He
took control and created for himself other realms with luminous fire,
which still exists. He mated with the mindlessness in him and produced

16 Translated by Hans-Gebhard Bethge and Bentley Layton. Accessed from The Gnostic Society
Library at www.gnosis.org/naghamm/origin.html.

70
 authorities for himself ...Yaldabaoth stationed seven kings, one for each
sphere of heaven, to reign over the seven heavens, and five to reign over
the depth of the abyss... The rulers created seven powers for themselves...
This is the sevenfold nature of the week.17

The planetary associations of the seven powers with the seven heavens is appar-
ent in other Gnostic (or anti-Gnostic) works.18 The Christian author Origen
investigated the Ophite Gnostic sect, interviewing its members and reading
some of their texts, as part of his research into 'heretical' movements. It is
clear both from the actual Gnostic gospels and the writings of such authors as
Origen that Saturn and the other six planetary Archons were considered to be
the controlling forces of the material cosmos, as well as the creators of mate-
rial life. Upon death, the soul of the Gnostic initiate was to ascend towards
the successive planetary realms, armed with the various passphrases that
would allow them to pass through that kingdom. It stands to reason that if
one had only learned the first three passphrases, then they would be able to
enter the celestial realm of the fourth Archon, but not be able to pass further.
By contrast, the soul of a non-initiate would be unable to ascend past even
the lowest (lunar) celestial realm, and be forced to reincarnate in the mate-
rial world. Surprisingly, Origen records some of the (allegedly) Ophite Gnostic
incantations used to access the Saturnine realm, ostensibly after death. In his
polemical work Contra Celsum, he shares some of the Gnostic tradition of the
day (6.31):

Further, if anyone wants to better understand the practices of those

magicians, through which arcane secrets they endeavor to mislead
people, with mixed success, then listen to the secret teaching which the
Gnostics receive after passing through the spiritual gates, which are
governed by the archons. At the First Gate, say: Hail, Solitary King! You
17 Accessed from the Gnostic Society Library at <gnosis.org/naghamm/apocjn-meyer.html>.
18 The reader is encouraged to consult April DeConick’s essay The Road for the Soul is through
the Planets', in A. DeConick, G. Shaw, J. Turner. Practicing Gnosis: Ritual, M agic, Theurgy and
Liturgy in N ag H am m adi, M anichaean and O ther A ncient Literature. Essays in H onor o f B irg er A.
Pearson. (Brill, 2013).

71
 are the first power, the darkening of sight, utter destruction, upheld by
wisdom and foresight, by which I am purified. [...] Hail, lord, let it be
so!' At the Second Gate, they shall find Ialdabaoth. Say, 'Hail, Ialdabaoth,
first and seventh, fearless, and born to rule. Your mind is clear and pure.
You are a perfect son [to Chaos], holding the sigil of life, and opening
the sealed gate to your realm. Again I pass through your realm. Peace be
upon me, lord, let it be so!' [translation mine]

It is important to clarify that while most Gnostic groups considered the

Demiurge to be an inferior being to the perfect unity of the pleroma/kenoma,
the Saturnine deity (Ialdabaoth) is not an enemy of humanity - indeed, the
deity is considered to be the parent o f the material cosmos. Most Gnostics,
however, in their rejection of the material cosmos, rejected its maker as well,
and so He is vilified as being somehow 'stupid' or 'foolish', which is a curious
point of view. Indeed, the Saturnine deity is understood to be an emanation
of Chaos, but Chaos is the origin of Cosmos in Gnostic thought - it is not at all
antagonistic towards it. Cosmic life itself is subject to change (Chaos), it is not
the perfect spiritual stasis of the pleroma. Curiously, the Valentinian Gnostics
presented a similar but different paradigm, in which the Demiurge rules all
the celestial realms except for earth, which is held by a renegade Archon (the
Devil). Thus the seven planetary realms are at odds with the earth, and so
Saturn is the distant king who seeks to "save" the initiate from the cycle of
rebirth. It is rare for Saturn to take on a salvific character, but in this tradition
(at least) that is the case.
Descriptions of Ialdabaoth depict him as a great lion-headed serpent,
for which reason he is sometimes called 'Ariael' (lion of God). This is clearly
a draconic image, and is found on some Gnostic gems and scrolls; this indi-
cates that some magicians of the Hermetic tradition were using the image
of the Demiurge as a talisman. As the architect and controller of the material
cosmos, the Demiurge and His Archons would be the logical forces to appeal
to, in order to create effective change in the world. The idea of appealing to
the Archons would have horrified many Gnostics, but Origen nevertheless was
able to access and cite the incantations used above, and the frequency of the

72
lion-serpent image in Hermetic texts and talismans indicates that Origen was
not fabricating the idea that some renegade Gnostics rejected the pleromic
model, choosing rather to serve the Demiurge than to resist Him.
In summary, the Saturnine deity had a powerful influence on the formation
of Gnosticism, though the various Gnostic movements varied considerably on
the nature and role of Saturn/Ialdabaoth. It is evident that the Saturnine deity
was connected with Chaos, and that He was understood to be an architect and
builder of the material realm, its associated celestial heavens, and the inhabit-
ants thereof. The Demiurge was also believed to interact with humans through
magic, but also through religious traditions (such as Judaism), and to seek to
cultivate a positive relationship with humanity.

73
 Saturn in the I ndian Tradition

I t may be in India alone where the Saturnine cult has survived since ancient
times. Master of the planets, Lord Sani (Saturn) remains a prominent deity
in Indian religion, astrology, and popular culture. Sani, also called Shaneshwar,
has had established temples and devotional practices that go back thousands
of years. Unlike the study of the Islamic Zuhal, or the Classical Saturnus, the
study of the cult of Lord Sani is not limited to old texts and archaeology; it
does not rely on reconstructions, clever theories, or linguistic wrangling. One
of the great joys of studying the figure of the Saturnine deity in India is that
one gets to examine a living tradition, to visit thriving temples, and to speak to
practitioners who have inherited spiritual practices, mantras, and pujas that
genuinely can be traced to antiquity in an unbroken line.
All those who follow Indian jyotisha, sometimes called Vedic astrology, are
aware of the influence of the navagraha, Sanskrit for 'nine seizers.' These are the
principal planets that are said to control fate, which are Surya (the Sun), Soma
(the Moon), Mangala, (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Brihaspati (Jupiter), Shukra
(Venus), Sani (Saturn), Rahu and Ketu (the shadow planets). These grahas or
seizers are understood to be both actual deities, as well as celestial bodies that
can be observed. The Indian jyotisha practices were developed very early on,
and whether or not they influenced the Classical tradition (evidence suggests
not), they absolutely influenced the Islamic tradition to a certain extent.

75
 Lord Sani appears in a number of Hindu texts, both ancient and contem-
porary, usually in conjunction with the other navagraha. The best known text
dedicated solely to him is the Sani Mahatmya, which was adapted into English by
jyotisha scholar and practitioner, Dr. Robert Svoboda, as The Greatness ofSaturn:
A Therapeutic Myth. Sani has also been the subject of other more recent studies,
such as Liz Greene's Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil (1976) and David Knipe's
"Softening the Cruelty of God: Folklore, Ritual, and the Planet Sani (Saturn)
in Southeast India” (1996). The titles of these three works by Svoboda, Greene,
and Knipe are very telling: they suggest that Sani is a glorious being (mahatma),
but that He has a very dark nature ("devil”, "cruel”). Hinduism, perhaps better
than other religious systems, seems able to reconcile some seemingly contra-
dictory traits in its deities, so that a god or goddess is at once both gentle and
savage, kindly and sadistic. In Western culture, this might be seen as a kind of
dualism, but Hindu scholars have long taught that divine beings - devas and
asuras - are considerably more complex than mortals. Sani is an exemplary
deity when it comes to the personification of both misfortune, even cruelty,
but strangely also mercy for those who show Him the appropriate respect.
Indian traditions generally hold that Sani is the greatest of the malefic enti-
ties. In fact, contemporary Hindu tradition goes even further - Sani is said to
be evil. Knipe (232) discusses this crux in detail:

Being planets and rulers of days, [Sani, Rahu, and Ketu] are transcendent
sources of evil. But more importantly, this is a religion that prizes devo-
tion above all other avenues to salvation. Demons, even if worshipped,
praised, and adored, are still unpredictable. Gods and goddesses, on the
other hand, are often amenable to devotional contracts and thrive on
human advances from which demons shrink. Sani is malevolent, cruel,
even harsh, but fair. 'He is the same for everyone,' is a much used phrase
in Telugu. The dark planet (as well as all the others) is endowed with
a personality, physique and biography, and the status o f devata allows
him to be approached, albeit cautiously, worshipped, and in a few cases
even elevated to a personal deity.

76
 Interestingly, having acceded to this personification of evil, the worship-
per of Sani proceeds to reinforce his negative features, as if it were
incumbent upon humans to valourize that which they fear. The prince of
darkness, deified, is nourished by the essence of darkness, black. What
is given to Sani is said to be something priya, dear to him, beloved by
him, the colour black, his colour, things of iron, his metal, and above all
the brown oil of sesame (taila) or the unhusked sesame seeds themselves
(tila, Telugu nuvvulu). Therefore gifts to this crude, recondite presence
reinforce his interior qualities - darkness, slowness, tenacity, a sinewy
strength - even as they remind devotees of the death they desire to post-
pone.

Nevertheless, Sani is not worshipped exclusively as a malevolent and destruc­

tive force, but also a deity who is capable o f great benevolence. In the Sani
Mahatmya, despite all the suffering the various mortals and immortals suffer,
Sani's black influence ultimately leaves them in a better state, even if that
state is one of death. It must be remembered that in the Dharmic religions
which accept a view of reincarnation, it is better to die (and be reborn) than to
continue a life accruing bad karma, which would result in a negative rebirth.
Readers may want to recall here the story of the King and his 72 nobles from
the curious Islamic text, the Kitab al-Ustuwwatas discussed in Chapter One.

Saturnine Theophany
Sani's biography is revealing. His father is Surya, the solar deity, while His
mother is Chaya, a goddess of shadow, and an emanation - literally, the shad­
ow (Slct. chaya) - of the goddess Saranya, a cloud deity. As the son of deities that
represent the sun and darkness, Sani Himself becomes a nocturnal solar deity,
sometimes called the Black Sun .19 Sani combines elements of both aspects, as
He has the blasting glare of a sun god, but His light is inverted into darkness.

19 Lucan, P h arsalia (1,651-652): sum m o s ifr ig id a caelo Stella nocens nigros S a tu m i accenderet ignis.
“From the cold heavens, the hateful Saturnine star shines brightly.”

77
Sani is the brother of the death god, Yama, and so He is associated with death
and has a chthonic function. Indian textual and popular tradition holds that
His guna (nature) is darkness (Skt. tamas), and this is not merely His internal
humors, since even His coloring is black or cobalt. The Yavanajataka (135-136)
describes His appearance having:

Brown, inscrutable eyes. He is strong, but his head hangs down and his
limbs tremble. He is tall and has thick, rough and dreadful hair, and
nails and teeth which are discoloured and broken. He is mean and very
irascible; his actions are evil. Accustomed to hatred, He is a malicious
master. In his black garments and looking like [collyrium], thin and lazy
[Shanaiscara] has abandoned joy. His essence is of sinew. 2 0

Sani's description in the Sani Mahatmya is strikingly similar. The translation

reads:

Lord Saturn is tall, black, long-limbed and emaciated, with reddish-

brown eyes, large teeth and nails, prominent veins, a sunken stomach,
a long beard, matted locks, and profuse course, stiff body hair. He is
lame and his limbs are rigid; his constitution is [cold and dry]. Intensely
harsh, he is cruel in authority, and his gaze, which is directed down-
ward, is utterly terrifying.

Further,

[Saturn is] Lord of the sinews and nerves, of the west, of Saturday,
and of the constellations Capricorn and Aquarius, he is also known as
the Slow, Son of Shadow, the Angular, the Black, the Endless, the End
Causer, the All-Devouring, the Steady, the Controller, the Famished, and
the Emaciated.

20 David Pingree, 'Representation o f the Planets in Indian Astrology,' Indo-Iranian Journal,

8:249-67, in Knipe 217.

78
Using the technique of repetition, which has been employed above in the
Islamic section, there are certain patterns that appear (marked in bold).
Saturn is tall, sinewy, rough of appearance, and His personality is malicious,
cruel, even evil. He appears to be a grim and unforgiving lord. We note also
that Sani is restrained in His movements (lame), and that He is Himself a force
of restraint. He is said to be slow, and his nature is cold. Clearly, there are some
strong parallels between the Indian understanding of Saturn, and the way in
which the Classical and Islamic cultures understood the same deity.
Sani's titles say much about his role in Indian religion. As noted previously,
these include the Endless, the End Causer, the All-Devouring, the Steady, and
the Controller. In Vedic astrology, Saturn serves as the great malefic, the bring-
er of ill-fortune. In all the texts, it is His gaze that is feared. When He was born,
His gaze fell on His father, causing an eclipse. The Sani Mahatmya provides
several brief anecdotes where Sani's gaze struck various deities, causing them
great harm - even the greatest deities, such as Shiva and Rama, are not exempt-
ed from Sani's power. According to astrology, as Saturn passes through the
horoscope of each person, it is said that His glance falls on them, which invari-
ably brings trauma of some degree. Saturn may perpetually afflict a person
due to a negative situation on their horoscope, which is termed Sanidosa. But
Saturn also afflicts all people, as His planet transits through the constellations,
and so when eventually His power comes to rest on a person, it is said to last 7
½ years .21The bigger the amount of bad karma (or
sin, if that concept is easier to grasp) the person
has accrued, the greater their suffering is likely to
be. A saint or mystic may suffer as much as a crim-
inal or materialistic person, but it is thought to be
less likely for this to happen, as the saint/mystic
will generally have better karmas.
That said, Sani's devotees are unapologetic
for His influence, and even tragedies such as the S ani (ms Lagnacandrika )

21 Readers interested in a more extensive view on San idosa are advised to consult a jyotisha
textbook, as this work is primarily a comparative study.

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death of an innocent child will be understood as the result of Sani's black gaze.
Further, Sani's malevolence is not always personalized as the misfortune of a
single person. Knipe (221) states:

A description [...] of the effect of Sani's dominance over a year is simi­

larly brutal: drought, crop failures, dust storms, diseases and famine
are continuous. In these chapters, Sani is cosmic malevolence. Everything
disgusting, debased or inauspicious, from rivers and regions to plants
and animals is ruled by Sani [italics mine, for emphasis].

Sani is thus a bringer of chaos, of suffering and trauma on a cosmic level. His
black gaze can see piercingly to afflict a single person, but also an entire region
can suffer if He wishes so. In many ways, the only difference between Sani and
a demon (raksasa) is that Sani can be negotiated with, propitiated, and molli-
fied. Unlike the demon, He absolutely cannot be compelled, and His vengeance
is said to be terrible if He is aggravated.
Such aggravations can and do occur. There are many times when a spiritual
tradition or teacher needs to convey certain difficult or complex truths and
lessons, but they simply cannot be effectively conveyed as abstract concepts or
raw information. Rather, they are best expressed through a narrative, which
encodes the subtleties and nuances that a student will grasp as part o f a story.
Such stories are often culture-centric, and even deeply tied to a language. In
a similar way, the same is true for even secular narratives. Take Shakespeare,
for example - no one would dare to argue that his works are as accessible or
as meaningful when read in Russian or Chinese, because much of his humor
and meaning is rooted in the popular culture of his day, and also in the 'street
language' of 1 6th/1 7thcentury England. Even to native speakers of English today,
some (much?) of Shakespeare's meaning is lost. The same is all the more true
for the ancient religious texts - the Torah or Quran or Vedas are no longer
truly 'themselves' once they are translated, and it is dangerously naive to argue
otherwise. Yet a diligent, careful reading of a translation can still yield tremen-
dous amounts of information, especially if one takes time to understand the
history and context of the source culture. This is not to suggest that one cannot

80
use translations to learn spiritual lessons, only that one must be very cautious
in how one goes about such a study.
In the case of Sani, the traditional tale Sani Mahatmya communicates to its
reader certain truths about Lord Sani. With the obligatory warning given that
we are discussing a text in translation, it would be helpful to provide an over-
view of the nature of this story, because it allows considerable insight into how
the devotees of Lord Sani view the deity.22
The tale begins with King Vikrama, the just ruler of Ujjayini, who had gath-
ered many religious sages and scholars to his court. On one fateful day, the
King sponsors a colloquium in which the various priests of the nine planetary
deities (navagaraha) debated which of the nine was supreme. It will come as no
surprise that each of the priests asserted the superiority of their own divine
patron, and so a lively discussion took place. But when it came to the pandita
(scholar) of the Saturnine deity, King Vikrama was obliged to hear a rather
gloomy and austere discussion on the generally unfavorable nature and cruel
personality of Lord Sani. The King was troubled by the pandita's words, and
when the colloquium ended, Vikrama mused aloud that Saturn was a truly
awful being, as much a bane to his own people as to his enemies. Yet as fate
would have it, Sani was passing overhead at that moment and heard the insult.
Descending to earth, He confronted King Vikrama and turned His black gaze
on him, cursing him to suffer until he had atoned for insulting the deity.
Indeed, thereafter King Vikrama lost everything - his home, his sovereignty,
his dignity - as Lord Sani's wrath pursued him, grinding him lower and lower
into the dirt. Eventually, after seven and a half years, when King Vikrama had
paid the full measure of his folly, Lord Sani restored him to his former glory.
Vikrama begged the Saturnine deity to never again torment another living
being as He had tormented the king. Sani replies by telling Vikrama about the
various deities who have suffered under His black gaze. Nevertheless, at the
king's prayer, Sani agrees to spare anyone the worst of His power if they read
this sacred legend (Sani Mahatmya) on Saturdays, and performed devotional

22 The abridged version of the narrative relies on Svoboda’s retelling o f the S a n i M ahatm ya.

81
activities for Sani on Saturday. The text provides a list of examples of activities
which are pleasing to this terrifying deity.
This tale is very efficient, because it has two major sections that relate to
Saturn. First, the pandita's lecture on Lord Sani is quite detailed, providing
an overview of the background of the god's birth, His nature, His appear-
ance, areas of influence, and the rites by which He is worshipped. Second, it
demonstrates in vivid detail how even the rich and powerful are vulnerable to
Sani's influence. In other words, if a just and righteous king such as Vikrama
can be harmed by Sani, or worse, if Sani afflicts even the other gods, then the
reader understands that mere mortals are utterly helpless before so terrifying
a being. There is no escape - in time, all fall under Sani's influence. This tale,
however, is not entirely hopeless. It makes very clear that Sani's influence, once
accepted, can be mitigated through particular actions and practices which are
relatively easy to perform, even for very marginalized people. Moreover, if one
actually welcomes Lord Sani's influence, then the trauma of His gaze becomes
a purification which alleviates the worshipper of the negative karmas (spiritual
attachments) which they have accumulated.

Saturnine Mag ical Practices

In order to show Lord Sani the proper respect, and to undertake those prac-
tices by which one is able to mitigate Sanidosa, a devotee must be aware of His
attributes and preferred materials. Sani's colors are black, blue, and sometimes
dark grey and dark brown. The sapphire is His sacred stone, and so His devo-
tees will often be seen to wear sapphire jewelry o f some kind. The metal sacred
to Saturn is iron, and so His idols (murtis) are sometimes simple iron nails;
devotees might also wear iron jewelry, such as a chain or bracelet. As with most
Hindu deities, Sani is identified with several animals that serve as His vahana
(vehicle or mount). The most prominent is the crow, a black and ugly bird. In
many cultures, the crow is perceived (perhaps correctly) as a bird of ill-omen.
Other vehicles are the tortoise, the buffalo, and rarely, the elephant. These
latter three animals are all sluggish, ponderous animals, and very resilient.
As mentioned above, unlike the cults of Zuhal and Saturn/Cronos, which
survive largely in memory, the cult o f Sani is very much a living institution.

82
Sani even enjoys a small but visible presence in Indian media and cinema. In
the Indian region of Kuchanoor, Sani is worshipped as the primary deity, and
has a prominent temple, Kuchanur Suyambu Sri Saneeswara Bhagavan, which
is open to the public for visitation. At such places, devotees will perform reli-
gious practices, and also request that professional clergy (brahmins) perform
Sani worship (pujas) on their behalf, usually to negate a perceived Sanidosa or
other malefic influence. For those who cannot visit a temple due to distance,
Sani products and pujas are widely available on the internet today.
As an example, a popular yantra-vending site advertises the power of Lord
Sani's yantra, saying:

When it is creating positive impact by being positioned in a benefic state,

this Yantra stimulates it to get further favorable, and when it is creat-
ing negative impact by being positioned in a malefic state, this Yantra
neutralizes it and eventually eliminates it. The bottom-line of this influ-
ence is to please Saturn, and turn it favorable for its host. In astrological
beliefs, a malefic Saturn is unparalleled to the malefic state o f any other
planet in the entire planetary system. It speaks length for the intensity of
adversity it has on someone when it is malefic. Usually, one faces lots of
obstacles and there are failures in all aspects. Almost everything, which
should otherwise be going up, scales down. Its ill-effect can also be sensed
with the increased frequency of health problems, which can sometimes
get too chronic to heal. Sani Yantra has been observed, approved, and
recommended by astrology for such cases, including for situations when
Saturn is in transit or is causing the long-term 'Saadesati' effect. Other
Benefits Possession of Sani Yantra confers one with success in profes-
sion or business and all worldly comforts. Also, it helps one rise higher
and higher to eventually reach and sustain on top of the scale.23

It is clear from reading this description that the yantra-crafter is not merely

23 http://www.kaalsarpdosh.com/aapkikundli/shop/yantra-for-business-growth/shani-
yantra

83
emphasizing the negative or adversarial aspects of Saturn, but also suggesting
that Saturn can turn bad luck into good fortune, and assist with the daily and
worldly needs of His devotee.
Some Sani practices (bhakti) can be performed privately. As Sani is held to
be a shadow deity, it is advised to perform them in secret, as this is more pleas-
ing to the deity. Examples of long-standing Sani bhakti includes:

■ Giving charity on Saturday, especially of black grain or sugar.

■ Caring for ugly or ill-favored trees, especially on Saturday.
■ Reciting the Sani Mahatmya story on Saturday.
■ Reciting Sani's mantra daily: Om Sham Shri Sanaischaraya Namah,
and especially on Saturday.
■ Wearing an iron nail, or other iron jewelry.
■ Wearing a ring or pendant with a sapphire.

While any of these practices can be performed on a daily basis, the majority are
held to be considerably more potent if performed on Saturday, as that day is
sacred to Him.

84
 Section Two

Saturnine Gnosis
 The Spiritual Path

T he reader should be well aware that since the 19th century, there has been
a tremendous surge of interest in the paranormal. This may be the result
of anthropology seriously examining the beliefs and practices of many new
spiritual systems that traditional European schools had previously dismissed
as superstition. In any case, the contemporary seeker of the mysteries faces
a considerable number of schools, systems, and traditions, which claim to
offer esoteric truths to their respective students. Many of these traditions
originally centered in (e.g.) Asia or Africa now have considerable internation-
al followings, and a diverse body of practitioners that includes people of all
ages, genders, and professional or educational backgrounds. Some are clearly
charlatans, without any clear credentials, offering instant wealth, power, or
love-spells in exchange for 'donations' by way of PayPal. Others, more genuine,
have spent decades painstakingly finding a qualified teacher, able to transmit
to them gradually the complex body o f practices necessary to undertake and
experience the magic of the tradition. Some, even many of the traditions make
exclusive claims to truth - their teacher is 'the best,' their deity is supreme,
and their path is better than all the others. Others, perhaps better versed in
the wide world of the occult, realize that while there may not be many spiritual
masters alive today, there are some genuine teachers within reach, if you take
the time to seek.

89
 One of the saddest developments in 20th century occultism was the rise of
the new traditions promising apotheosis. This topic is delicate, but needs to
be addressed nonetheless. Some occult traditions really do have secret knowl-
edge, and some occultists are capable of genuine magic. Of this, there is no
question. Magic has its limits, like any force, and these are often due to the
limitations of the magician. Few traditional masters would argue this point.
Further, almost all of the traditional occult arts have acknowledged the exis-
tence of supernatural entities, with whom magicians can and do traffic. In no
text or tradition were these entities ever considered as 'archetypes' or 'projec-
tions' of a magician's will.
Yet somehow, with the appearance of figures like Aleister Crowley, an
increasing number of occultists have arisen, claiming to be master magicians,
or more, deities. Some schools purport to be able to teach someone to become a
deity while they are still physically incarnate. Such claims are alarming because
(a) they lack any substantial or measurable evidence, and (b) the self-professed
masters who claim to sell miracles seem strangely unable to direct their own
lives. Worse yet, such figures have created fast-food schools o f the occult
which have relegated gods and elementals to nothing more than wish-fulfill-
ing genies, rather than powerful and self-existing entities which traditionally
demand respect and sacrifice.
Above all, this should be understood: power is not free. The word 'empow-
erment' is thrown around liberally by many who seem to think that demons
can be conjured and bullied into following orders. That is hubris. One might
suggest that the pig who is fed daily by the farmer probably feels 'empowered,'
but the pig will never become a farmer, even though it might eat the scraps
that come from the farmer's table. I am not saying that spiritual evolution is
not possible, but it is dangerous to think that one can declare oneself a master,
or a deity, by virtue of acquiring some magical skill. Demanding favors or
power from spirits is a dangerous game, and may not result in the 'ascension'
that many expect to find. By thinking that gods or spirits are projections or
egregores, one runs the very serious risk of falling into this trap. One might
discover after death that if the power has not been paid for, the magician will
be consumed in payment. It is better to enter into dealings with spirits or gods

90
with an open and intelligent attitude, trusting that if such entities are willing
to communicate and assist the magician, they will not do so for free. Spiritual
beings have their own agendas, and the wise magician recognizes this and acts
accordingly.
Are spiritual beings actually interested in human spiritual evolution?
Certainly, this is a prevailing belief in the greater occult community, but what
evidence supports this? If the majority o f contemporary masters are actually
able to summon gods or devils for purposes of self-aggrandizement, then why
are they equally often struggling to meet their own material or social needs?
Worse, why are they selling materials offering to teach skills that they do not
themselves seem to possess? This is not to say that all masters are charlatans
- far from it. Those who claim to teach, and profit from teaching, are often
suspiciously lacking in credibility. A simple Google search will show as much.
But good teachers are nevertheless a great blessing, and if one can find a genu-
ine spiritual teacher, they can offer a great wealth of techniques and sugges-
tions, and certainly in some cases, the transmission of gnosis. This cannot and
should not be disputed.

Choosing a Spiritual Path

When one decides to select a spiritual tradition, they need to ask themselves
what they hope to gain from embarking on the spiritual quest. If someone
has come to believe in magic, and wishes to gain greater control over their life
and personal circumstances, all well and good, but Vajrayana Buddhism may
not be the path for them. Equally, if someone wishes to establish a daily prac-
tice leading to profound inner tranquility, Vajrayana may indeed be the path
they are searching for. Is the seeker committed to a deeper connection with
the Supreme Being, and content in simple yet profound devotional practices?
Then Sufism or Bhakti Yoga may be good choices. Not all esoteric traditions
actually teach magic, but this does not mean that they are any less valid. Magic
is a valid skill to wish to learn, but similar to a competitive sport, it takes time,
practice, and a certain degree of innate ability. Many esoteric paths do not
require any skill with magic, and can still lead their initiate to very profound
spiritual realizations.

91
 One should select a spiritual path with care, and not without weighing the
risks and benefits associated with that path. I f a tradition is associated with
a particular deity or family o f spiritual entities, one needs to know if one is
comfortable with the requirements o f the tradition. This holds especially true
if one accepts the existence o f the gods or spiritual intelligences as genuine
phenomena. In the same way that one might accept or reject a position o f
employment based on one's understanding or knowledge o f one's potential
superior in the organization, one needs to assess whether the spiritual patrons
o f a particular system represent the values and ambitions one seeks. This is
a process that requires serious reflection in both the head and the heart. On
the one hand, it is true that ‘you know when you know' the right teacher or
spiritual current, because you should feel it in your gut. On the other hand,
one needs to do one's reading, consult books, speak to other knowledgeable
teachers or students, and try to understand what aligning with a particular
current or school entails. I f everyone belonging to the school lives a very stable
and happy life - this suggests something about the teaching and energy o f that
current. I f the initiates o f a particular current are struggling with substance
abuse and frequent run-ins with law enforcement, it suggests something else
entirely about the nature o f the energy behind this particular current.
One also needs to carefully consider the rules and practices o f a spiritual
current. In many traditional African currents, for example, blood sacrifice is
normal and necessary. A student who balks at such things will not last long,
or not be accepted. This applies to all major religions - i f someone is really
against animal sacrifice, then Islam (and its associated Sufi orders) could be
a bad choice as a religion, given the annual Eid al Kbir sacrifices. That is not to
say that spiritual and cultural norms cannot be re-evaluated periodically, but
cherry picking is best avoided, if one seeks to truly integrate into a spiritual
current that embraces and endorses such practices.
There is also the question o f how one becomes part o f a living esoteric tradi­
tion. This is a tricky topic, with some sharply divided opinions and much could
(and should) be said about it. While the scope o f the present work will not allow
us to elaborate on this matter too much, we want to quickly state our own
position as far as it relates to the gnosis found within this book. To become a

92
devotee of Saturn, no formal initiation is required. The information in this
work, for example, provides more than enough insight into the role and nature
of the Saturnine deity for someone drawn to its current to establish a meaning-
ful devotional relationship with it. Such a devotional solitary relationship may
develop into an elaborate personal cultus of Saturn and the deity may bestow
great insights and powers. However, if one seeks the most complete Saturnine
transformation, the guidance of a genuine master or teacher becomes indis-
pensable. Not only will such a master provide important tools and techniques
which have been acquired and tested over many generations, but more impor-
tantly, he will act as the 'physician of the heart.' Such a master has little in
common with the usual western esoteric teacher who is at best an esoteric
college tutor and at worst a fraudulent pretender and hoarder of empty titles
and degrees. The physician of the heart is the master who establishes a deep-
ly individual relationship with the student and removes the spiritual debris
and confusion from the soul so that the initiate becomes the perfect soil for
the divine (in this case Saturnian) energies. The powers or conditions which
rule our everyday consciousness are so strong and deceptive that it is impos-
sible for us to bypass all their traps and tricks which they have implemented
to remain in control of the profane I. While we may be able to have success in
following ritual instructions or even have great spiritual visions and experi-
ences through our devotional relationship with the deity, they will remain to a
degree fractured or isolated: To fully replace "the I of day-consciousness with
the I of night-consciousness” as David Beth states so well, we need to establish
the sacred bond with a genuine teacher. Only through this process of mirror-
ing, mentoring and monitoring, the soul can become a perfect mirror for the
Saturnian energies enabling the initiate to manifest the whole range of their
powers.
Trafficking with spirits in itself can be of course highly problematic. Entities
which claim to be benevolent or auspicious may not actually be so. In a sense,
one is actually fortunate if a spirit admits up front that it is not auspicious or
kindly - that is better than finding out the hard way. One may be pledged to a
spirit, serve it devotedly, and yet find at the end of the long road that it has all
been for naught. This is where the grimoire tradition is very helpful, insofar as

93
it is one thing to receive 'gnosis' from something claiming to be Lilith which
indeed conforms to the generous surviving traditions of Lilith, whereas it is
more risky to pledge oneself to some spirit which has no persona or cultus to
be researched. The reader is likely aware of the many different cults dedicated
to supposedly ancient spirits (like Lilith), which under scrutiny bear no resem-
blance at all to the ancient deities in question. Personal gnosis is good, but
it's even better when it matches the practices of the original cultists to at least
some degree. When people assert that they speak to a Lilith, who claims to be a
kindly fertility goddess, it's evident that they are being deceived by something
that is clearly masquerading to take advantage of their ignorance. Caveat cultor.
A large reason for writing this particular study is to provide a resource on the
Saturnine deity, so that readers are better able to recognize and identify His
presence, if they might encounter it.

The Saturnine Deity: A nalysis

T he most complex question that this study addresses is this: who - or what -
is the Saturnine deity? The First Section explored three major cults of that
black planet, namely Classical, Islamic, and Indian. These choices were not
exclusive, because the Saturnine deity appears in many cultures. Some ancient
star-gazing civilizations, such as Babylon and Egypt, demonstrated awareness
of the dark star. Other cultures, such as the Celts and Germans, had their own
analogues in figures like Balor and Ymir. The dark grandfather of gods and
mortals is a character that appears in most Indo-European mythologies. Balor,
the Saturnine figure in Old Irish tradition, is a terrible, cyclopean monster,
one of the demonic invaders who attempts to conquer Ireland. He is said to
rule a race of demons (formoire) from a magical glass tower on Inis Tor. Balor's
gaze instantly slays anyone that He looks upon, and so He must keep His eye
closed at all times. His tyranny is ended when His grandson (Lugh) kills Him in

94
battle. The esoteric adept David Beth has also pointed out important Saturnian
aspects of the Germanic Wodan which show parallels to Cronos:

Wodan as a ruler of the dead is well established but as the God of the
ecstatic he also keeps a close relationship with the living. His bi-polar
nature encompasses both the world of the dead and realm of the living
and his devotees are pulled towards him in moments of ecstatic rapture
and transport. This magical magnetism was called Eros of the Distance
by the philosopher Ludwig Klages. In the Fraternitas Borealis Wodan is
addressed as the 'Innermost' and the 'Outermost'. Chained in magical
sleep, He is the God in the mountain (to which he draws the visionary
dreamers) but He is also the roaming God in the outer spheres, the eter-
nal wanderer.24

Of course, Saturn is not merely an Indo-European figure, or even an Indo-

Semitic figure. The Saturnine deity appears in the mythologies and religious
systems of other ancient cultures. The Aztecs, for example, revered Him as
Tezcatlipoca, the Black Sun, a generally malevolent deity, hobbled by virtue of
a missing foot which was sometimes replaced by a black mirror or serpent.
Tezcatlipoca, like Sani and Saturn, was for some time considered a major god
of the Aztec empire, though His reign was challenged by His brother (rather
than son). The worship of Tezcatlipoca demanded daily human sacrifice, for
which the Aztec empire remains infamous today. He is a paradoxical figure
who is both solar and chthonic in the same moment, much like Lord Sani.
Curiously, He wears bells arrayed like chains.
Next, there is the Vodou deity Baron Samedi, who belongs to the Guedhe
family of Vodou Gods who embody the powers of death and fertility. He has a
chaotic and irascible character with lewd, gallows humor. The Baron dresses
in black, and Saturday (Samedi) is sacred to Him. Liminal places like cross-
roads and graveyards are his territory. He is a popular deity for those in need
of special magical assistance. In the esoteric voudon work of David Beth and

24 David Beth in a letter to the author.

95
the Société Voudon Gnostique, it is another member of the Guedhe family,
Ghuedhe Nibbho who rules the Saturnian sphere. Not unlike Wodan in the
Fraternitas Borealis, He is a deity connected to both the dead and the living.
Within the cultus He oversees the spiritual death and resurrection of the
initiate as a living dead, which frees the cultist from the ruling order of the
cosmos.25
This list is meant to demonstrate that the Saturnine deity does exist in other
cultures and systems beyond those covered in Section One. Having looked at
several cultural manifestations of Him, it is clear that there are serious and
consistent parallels. At this point, it is good to consider why those parallels exist.
One possibility is that all the myths come from a common cultural source. This
possibility would make sense if the cultures were all in close contact, which
they were not. Also, if they shared a common site of origin for the Saturn char-
acter, we would expect to find that all (or more) of the deities show similar
traits, when they clearly do not. Indra and Jupiter may be like Thor, and they
do share a common Indo-European origin as thunder deities, but Indra is not
Jupiter, and Jupiter is not Thor. They do not look the same, dress the same, or
have the same icons apart from the storm.
One must next consider the possibility of trade routes, because stories and
myths can travel, but it would be very odd for merchants to spread stories
about a displaced, hostile deity, instead of the more popular cultural deities.
Another possibility is that Saturn somehow represents a visible phenomenon
or archetype. However, it is extremely hard to explain why multiple cultures
would imagine the same displaced and alien deity, which has the same peculiar
traits as lameness, chaos, dark colors, cold nature, chains, a connection to the
seventh day of the week, and a presence or gaze which causes harm or death.
If Saturn could be reduced to an archetype, then we would expect to see even
greater parallels for solar and lunar deities - but strangely, those parallels do
not generally exist.
We are left then with one logical explanation: that the Saturnine deity
appears in multiple mythologies with the same characteristics because the

25 From a private correspondence with David Beth.

96
entity is real Saturn is not only an archetype or a fable, but instead an actual
deity (or planetary intelligence, or power) with which various cultures have
made contact, and its common appearance among those cultures is evidence
of its genuine existence.
Of course, the Saturnine deity does not merely manifest in ancient mythol­
ogy, but also in the consciousness of more modern thinkers. The great British
author J. R. R. Tolkien created two primary villains for Middle Earth: Morgoth
and Sauron. While these figures appear imaginary, Tolkien was a noted histo-
rian and linguist, and based much of his writing on actual mythology. Morgoth
is the black tyrant, the general who seeks to enslave all of earth and human-
ity. He claims to be the "master of the fates of Arda.” Garbed all in black, he
fights a war against the Valar (gods) for control of the cosmos. His weapon
is not the sword or spear, but a heavy hammer named Grond ("grinder”). In
that war, he is injured in his leg, and walks afterwards with a limp. Later he
is exiled into the void of night, but will return someday to continue the battle.
Morgoth is succeeded by his lieutenant, Sauron, whose symbol is the burning
eye, and whose gaze is said to be injurious. The point here is not that Morgoth
or Sauron are real entities, but that the Saturnine deity is such a powerful and
menacing figure that when Tolkien was drafting the great fantasy epic of the
20th century, he chose deliberately to make the chief antagonist an utterly,
entirely Saturnine character.

In Section One, one of the techniques that proved useful is the search for points
of repetition. In simple language, some of the traits of the deity will be cultural-
ly-specific: that is expected and unavoidable. However, other traits of the deity
may prove common to several cultures, and those are the aspects that it will
prove interesting to focus on. By compiling those universal or common traits,
we will be able to better understand the true nature of the Saturnine deity.

Darkness
In every instance of the Saturnine deity, there is a profound connection
between the deity and darkness. Darkness can be black, grey, or sometimes

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cobalt blue. These symbolic colors are echoed in the clothing of the deity, the
color of the deity's skin, the color of the deity's idol, the color of the deity's
preferred offerings and sacrifices, and the descriptions of the deity's nature.
One should wonder, what does darkness signify? In terms of semiotics, dark-
ness is usually connected with night, death, taboo, the unknown, and with the
chthonic realms. Darkness is very rarely a positive indicator of a deity - it is
not impossible for it to be so, but much more often darkness is indicative (and
evocative) of sinister energies. More importantly, in those cultures described
in this book in detail (Classical, Indian, Islamic), the color black is absolutely
chthonic - it is connected with the underworld, and with negative forces. Even
the images of the Saturnine deity are connected with darkness, be it through
the obscuring of his face by the toga, or the darkness of his idol (a black obelisk
or cube).

Trauma
The Saturnine deity is a source of injury. Almost every culture which recog-
nizes Saturn considers him the great malefic. Saturn hurts people, He causes
pain and suffering, and the text suggests that He enjoys causing this pain.
For the Islamic and Roman magicians, there is nothing redemptive about the
trauma brought by Saturn. The Saturnine deity injures because it can injure, or
perhaps, because it likes to injure, or because it injures compulsively. The Indian
tradition agrees that Saturn causes great harm, but tries to find some meaning
in the suffering, even if the suffering results in death. Celtic culture, like Indian
culture, connects the trauma Saturn inflicts to his black gaze - that somehow
the act of Saturn seeing a person is the cause of injury. Overall, this aspect of
Saturn is the most hated and feared of all his traits: Saturn is pain. However,
all three great cultures also agree that Saturnine trauma can be predicted and
mitigated.

Chains
Saturn is deeply connected with maiming and imprisonment. In all the
cultures noted here, the deity is either injured, or lame, or chained in some
way. His movement is impaired. Simultaneously, He is the god of restraint, of

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limitation and chaining. The reason for the maiming or chaining, curiously, is
often related to some conflict: Saturn/Cronos is chained in adamantine fetters,
Sani is wounded, while Zuhal is lame without reason, and Tezcatlipoca's foot is
replaced by a black mirror or serpent. The Classical tradition goes the furthest
by banishing the Saturnine deity to Tartarus, the black netherworld beneath
the world of the dead. Saturn's chains are themselves used in magical spells
as a device, used to restrain other people. Saturn limits people, enterprises,
nations, and forces of nature.

Time
The Saturnine deity is said to be 'ancient,' 'old,' or 'eternal.' As you will remem-
ber, the Greeks in particular called him 'Chronos' and syncretized him togeth-
er with the personification of time. This connection of Cronos to time (chronos)
is not merely Greek - the Romans acknowledged that Saturn was a divinity of
time, and the Saturnine deity seems to have had a connection with time also in
Islamic literature. It is well known that the Kaaba itself was the house of idols
in Mohamed's time, and so the Black Stone was very likely the icon represent­
ing the pagan deity Dahr (time). There is a peculiar verse in the Quran which
says: And they say: 'There is nothing hut our life in this world: We die and we live and
nothing destroys us except time.' And they have no knowledge of it, they only conjee-
ture’ (Qur'an 45:24). Mohamed is said to have later told his companions, 'Do not
curse Time, for Time is Allah.' In English, it sounds as though Mohamed was
simply attributing the power of fate to Allah, but in Arabic, the verse infers that
the deity whom the Arabs revered as 'Time' was in fact the original chief deity
of the Kaaba. Time is an entropic force which eventually destroys all things,
even stars and suns. As noted previously, Saturn is considered an agricultural
deity, but this is primarily because He is the harvest time, the reaper, which
brings an end to all things. This is connected to His death aspect (see below).

Cold
In several traditions, Saturn's star/planet is said to be cold. This is referring
to His essence or 'humor,' according to the medical wisdom of the Greeks and
Indians. Coldness can be a reference to age, to sluggishness, but also to the

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darker half of the year and the northern direction. It is curious that the Winter
Solstice (21 December) falls in the middle of the Saturnalia week, and that the
festival is celebrated in the coldest month of the year. In Indo-European mythol-
ogy, the predominant belief was that the initial state of the black primordial
Chaos was cold, and even after the appearance of the cosmos, the cold contin-
ues to be associated with darkness, the north, and hostile forces. Cold is asso-
ciated with death, the chill of the grave, the underground (basements, mines,
ruins), and the underworld.

Disruption
The Saturnine deity is a disruptive being, no less so because He is a projection of
the primordial Chaos. His energy is not conducive to a normal, healthy society.
The Saturnalia best demonstrates the wildness and social revolt that Saturn's
presence brings when it is unrestrained. Saturn not only causes suffering, but
He also brings social unrest and turmoil. The Saturnine deity does not merely
trouble individuals, but also entire regions, even the heavens. Several of the
traditions relate that the other planets fear Saturn, and that He disrupts their
powers and operations. Saturn's chaos is not always destructive, however, as
the Saturnalia festival was not considered a hateful or negative thing - it was
genuinely celebrated. Saturn sometimes exhibits a certain gallows humor, it is
said, as demonstrated well by the bawdy and ribald humor of Baron Samedi.

A ncestor
This trait is somewhat curious, but both Islamic tradition and Classical tradi-
tion identify Saturn as an ancestor figure. The Romans held that (chthonic)
Saturn is an ancestor figure of the Italic people, which the Gauls echoed for
themselves in identifying Saturn as Dis Pater. The Greek "Cronos' Mill" incan-
tation addresses Cronos as "ancestor", and the Islamic incantation to summon
a manifestation of Zuhal addresses him as "father and lord." This suggests that
several of the cultures (Greeks, Romans, Arabs) identified Zuhal as having a
divine connection to them, not unlike how Zeus and Odin are thought to have
been ancestor figures to famous lines of kings and heroes. It should be remem-
bered that while the Arab text addresses Zuhal as "father," Arabic often uses

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the term 'father' and 'mother' for grandparents.26 Saturn is not a father deity
so much as an ancestor deity. That is to say that His cultists did not address
Him usually as father as a Christian addresses ''God the Father.'' Rather, Saturn
is addressed as an ancient and hoary ancestor. Perhaps this term of address
is used to make the terrifying entity more approachable and in the hope that
'Grandfather Saturn' will prove more kindly than not - though admittedly,
this is akin to Lovecraft's cultists using the term of address ''Father Dagon," in
hopes of humanizing an inhuman deity.

Death
Undeniably, Saturn is a chthonic figure, and all His symbols suggest as much,
such as His covered head, His scythe, His insistence on black offerings, and
His association with the underground. The very texts that identify His areas
of influence indicate that He is to be consulted on matters related to the dead.
In Indian tradition, He is brother to Death (Yama), and in the Roman and
Greek tradition, He rules over Tartarus, the darkest, most hostile part of the
netherworld. In Celtic myth, Balor's gaze causes instant death, as does Sani's
in Indian tradition. Likewise, in Vodou tradition, Baron Samedi is the chief
spirit of death. As noted previously, the Roman Saturn, black clad, cowled, and
bearing a scythe, is the origin of the Christian myth of the 'Grim Reaper,' not
because Saturn was a death deity like Orcus, but because Saturn represents
Time, which destroys all things. Saturn may not be death personified, but He
clearly has a connection with the process of dying, and with the underworld
itself. Saturn, in His guise as a planetary spirit or intelligence, also appears in
connection with medieval operations of necromancy and black magic, in the
grimoire tradition.

The Black Cube

In several of these cultures discussed, Saturn's physical presence in this world
- his idol, if you will - is said to be a black stone, cube, or obelisk. The current
idol of Sani at one of his most prominent temples continues to be the black

26 It is noteworthy that the magician using the P icatrix invocation addresses Saturn as “[my]
lord father," which is exactly how a grandfather is addressed in some contemporary dialects
o f Arabic.

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stone even now. The Kaaba itself, which was originally an icon o f the Time
deity, is another prominent example o f the Black Cube. It is significant that
the black stone at the heart o f the Kaaba is said to be black iron, fallen from
the stars, which according to Islamic lore makes it Saturnine by definition.
We might ask why the Saturnine deity would prefer a Black Cube or obelisk
as an icon. The answer, one might suspect, is related to the earlier statement
that the Saturnine deity is a remnant o f the primordial Chaos, which was cut/
severed from Chaos when the cosmos surged into being. The Cube symbolizes
the cutting, in that its straight edges and angles are clearly artificial and non-
natural. The Cube also represents the maiming and constraining o f Saturn,
and the prison dimension (Tartarus) to which the deity is confined. The Black
Cube is simultaneously the prison and the throne o f the dark god. Further,
the symbol or emblem o f the Black Cube appears in many contemporary art
and media projects, often as a symbol o f alien menace or alterity. Examples
include Clive Barker's Hellraiser cubes, and the Leviathan deity itself. Even a
Google search for 'Black Cube' shows an extensive list o f corporations that use
the Black Cube as a symbol, or actual Black Cubes that are installed around the
world. Other, more alarmed minds have suggested that the prevalence o f the
Black Cube phenomena is a subtle indication that the Cult o f the Saturnine
deity remains alive and well.

Sum m ary Of Findings

The Saturnine deity demonstrates a series o f very similar traits across the
cultures in which it manifests - this is evident in the pages above. Generally
absent are such traits as kindness, warmth, and benevolence. Whatever the
contemporary magician might wish to think, the great majority o f the ancient
cultures clearly recognized the Saturnine deity as a very real force that could
not be escaped, and its attention was more likely to cause trauma and disrup-
tion than anything. This said, the majority o f those cultures discussed devel-
oped ways to placate the Saturnine deity, either by festival, sacrifice, or what-
ever actions o f ritual and devotion. Interestingly, these practices seem to have
worked, because no culture like Rome would have annually practiced so expen-
sive a festival as the Saturnalia for nothing, and Ibn Wahshiyya would not have
risked his life to record forbidden practices i f he did not have personal expe-

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rience of their validity - and indeed, he says as much. The Aztecs went even
further, making the Saturnine deity the chief deity of their empire, despite
the daily cost of sacrifices that they felt such a deity demanded. The haunt-
ing figure of an old, grim sovereign, robed in black, crippled, killing or maim-
ing others with his black gaze - this figure appears to be manifest consistently
across a wide range of diverse cultures. Consequently, this discussion must
move to what exactly this entity is, what it wants, and if there is any benefit to
be had from placating or entreating such a grim grey god. Thus far, this study
has relied entirely on scholarly sources and research. At this point, it is neces-
sary to supplement these with esoteric tradition and gnosis.

The Saturnine D e ity: I nterpretation

M ythology and sacred tradition are ways by which supernatural events in

the distant past can be understood and described in human language.
In order to make use of the lore of ancient cultures, it is important to reject
a literalist binary true/false attitude, and instead seek to understand what a
particular story or symbol is trying to communicate. Otherwise, there are no
ancient systems which will be useful to any reader, because all systems rely on
the language and culture of a particular place and time. Even in contemporary
English language, we say 'sunrise' and 'sunset,' even though through science
today, we are aware that the sun is neither rising nor setting (as our ancestors
thought), but for all practical purposes it is easier to say this or 'think' of the
sun as moving across the sky, rather than to imagine the Earth spinning on its
axis. This applies to myths and symbols of the Saturnine deity, as well as to any
religious or spiritual tradition.
On the one hand, this study has just shown three consistent patterns through
which the Saturnine deity manifests in human consciousness. First, there is
the human manifestation, in which Saturn appears a grim old man, robed in

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black, crippled or lame, with a stern or angry countenance, and bearing a sharp
sickle or sword. Second, there is the planetary manifestation, in which Saturn
appears as a cold, dry, and shadowy planet that radiates menace. Third, there
is the iconic manifestation, in which Saturn appears as a black stone, cube,
or obelisk. These manifestations are symbolic of Saturn's character, and were
never meant to be interpreted literally. The ancients did not believe that Saturn
was just an old man, any more than He was 'just' a planet, or 'just' a black iron
cube. What, then, did the ancients intend by these symbols, and what do these
symbols mean to communicate to the initiated reader today?
When we contemplate the nature and power of symbols we should keep in
mind the teachings of David Beth on symbolic thinking and the pandaemonic
world of night consciousness. We believe that his work reveals the most inner
essence and sacredness of the symbol as magical doorway into the most essen-
tial reality. Master A-Logos (David Beth) says:

The world of symbols is the world of night consciousness. Against popu-

lar opinion we believe that myths are born from symbols. The true symbol
itself is a revelation of an enthusing power (such as a spirit, a daemonic
essence) and never only a metaphor. The benighted communes with the
powers of the living All and the encounter, the mating of passive soul
(initiate, poet, visionary) with the active daemonic souls or essences
triggers the manifestation of a true symbol. When symbols are glyphs
of ecstatic encounters they form part of a language that communicates
realities which can never be approached through conceptual language.
Real symbols always impact magically and thus have the power to
reawaken the facility of ecstatic esoteric vision. For the rare aristocrats
of the soul they become doorways into the living, daemonic Kosmos.27

It is crucial, first, to state clearly that all the cultures discussed here have accept-
ed that the Saturnine deity was an actual entity, which, in its planetary form,

27 David Beth as quoted from a private communication to the author on the magical effect of
symbols and the nature o f night consciousness.

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afflicts all beings. Whereas one might possibly ignore most o f the gods that
seemed outside one's personal sphere, all the cultures here considered Saturn's
influence to be an inevitable and unenviable part of life. The worship of the
Saturnine deity was not a cathartic exercise or a Freudian operation, it was a
literal cultus intended to mitigate the greater and lesser trauma that afflicts
nations, gods, and mortals alike. This is a view which the reader should consid-
er carefully, especially because it has been so universally held, and continues to
be held today by many who understand the workings of celestial forces.
To understand the Saturnine deity as these cultures understood Him, it is
necessary to investigate the greater cosmology to which many of these cultures
ascribed, because this dark deity did not exist purely independently, but was
part of a greater tradition or family of traditions.

Chaos
In many of the world's mythologies, before the cosmos came into being, there
was something else which in English we call Chaos. Chaos is a very Indo-
European motif, but occurs also in many other cultures' legends, such as the
Sumerian or Afro-Semitic cultures of the bronze and iron age period. For
example, readers of the Bible will know it from the book of Genesis, where it
is described as the initial flux of darkness and water, to which Jehovah brings
light and shape. By definition, Chaos was impossible to describe, because it
was so fundamentally alien to the cosmos that we have no frame of reference
by which to understand it, because it predated the separation of existence from
non-existence. Nevertheless, Chaos is frequently described in ancient texts as
an ocean of darkness. At some point, for whatever reason (traditions differ),
it generated the cosmos, along with other primordial entities that inhabited
the cosmos, and which themselves created other lesser beings such as the
gods. Several of the ancient cultures held that Saturn was one of the primor-
dial beings. Interestingly, most of the primordials were described as immense
creatures that were not especially human in their appearance. While Islam is
silent on the origins of Zuhal, the Classical and Indian traditions both hold that
when the Saturnine deity was born, its first recorded act was to injure its male
parent, and without any provocation. The dark deity momentarily asserts its

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cosmic dominance, but then is defeated, injured, and exiled to the most distant
edge of celestial and/or chthonic space. The secret meaning of this tradition is
that the Saturnine deity is actually a remnant of the pre-cosmic Chaos, and the
emergence of the cosmos (or sun god) effectively shatters the unity of Chaos.
The emerging cosmos (symbolized by light) is separated from Chaos, which
withdraws, becoming the darkness visible beyond the stars at night. However,
some of the Chaos is trapped within the cosmos, becoming the primordial
deities. The Saturnine deity is an aspect of Chaos, and so his influence over the
other planets is negating and negative; his influence over nations is socially
disruptive; and his influence over mortals is often lethal. The Saturnine deity is
dark-skinned, because Chaos is dark. He is disruptive, because Chaos is disor-
dered. He is malevolent and associated with death, because Chaos is inimical
to all life. He is an ancestor figure, because like the Chaos which generated
Him, He cannot help but create, even as He cannot resist causing destruction.
He is a father, grandfather, or ancestor, because He is one of the first primordi-
a l to emerge from Chaos. He is a king or tyrant, because He is the greatest of
the emanations of Chaos to remain in the cosmos.
The Saturnine deity, then, is not really an old, dark man. That is a shape or
body that the entity adopts for dealing with its mortal cultists. The actual shape
of the deity, if such a thing could be imagined, would be impossible to describe.
Were an initiate able to perceive it directly, they would see an immense spirit
that is dark and cold, and its resonance would be both chthonic and malevolent.
It may be easier to simply envision the deity as the planet, which is in some way
its current physical manifestation in the cosmic world. Of course, the planet is
a mass of minerals and ice, but that is merely the aspect visible to physics - just
as a human is 'merely' a mass of minerals and liquids in solid form.
Nevertheless, the Saturnine deity is restrained, chained, and maimed. In all
the various traditions that describe Him, He has suffered injury and indigna-
tion, and He appears to be limited in His movement and His appearances. In
all the spells which address Him or describe Him, two things are apparent: (a)
He can be called, and (b) He cannot manifest without being called. Take, for
example, the Safnadula tradition, which crossed from India into Islamic texts.
King Safnadula has a dream in which Lord Sani appears to him, and instructs

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him in how to perform the ceremony that will summon Sani visibly from His
idol. If Sani could manifest without the need for the ceremony, would He not
do so? Second, consider the pg m "Salt Mill of Cronos” spell, which calls Cronos
to appear and serve as an oracle. The text makes very clear that Cronos will
appear in chains, and that He will harm the magician unless the magician
is protected by certain phylacteries and protective charms. Nevertheless, He
can be banished when the magician has finished the operation. Third, note
that the idol of Saturn was actually restrained by cords (symbolizing chains),
which were removed only for the Saturnalia period. Fourth, Zuhal's name liter-
ally means The alien, the furthest away,' and His incantation makes clear that
He is distant from the Earth, unlike the other planets which are 'close.' In all
of these cases, there is a definite sense that the Saturnine deity, unlike other
deities, is not present on Earth. True, His 'star' or planetary body is feared and
considered able to strike from afar, but that is not the same thing as being able
to manifest as He might otherwise wish.
Where, then, is Saturn? We might well consider the strange symbol o f the
Black Cube, which has been discussed above. For the initiated reader, the cube
or obelisk represents the spiritual dimension to which Saturn is banished, the
spiritual prison to which the deity is confined. It is square or cubic, because
this is the simplest building known to humanity, and so it represents the jail or
cell which holds the fallen king. Of course, the Black Cube is not a literal room
in which the deity is trapped; it represents a spiritual plane, a shadow-universe
which serves as the Saturnine deity's prison. The ritual act of setting up the
Black Cube as Saturn's idol, and calling the deity forth from the idol, is symbolic
of releasing Saturn from His prison. The reverence and devotion shown to the
Black Cube (e.g. the Kaaba) is symbolic of respect being shown to the lord who
is imprisoned.28This being the case, it is reasonable to consider any conspicu-
ous occurrence of the Black Cube (in advertising, in promotion, as a corporate
symbol) as potentially symbolic of Saturn. As this text has attempted to stress,

28 It will be obvious to the reader that this aspect o f Saturn/Cronos was understood by
horror author Clive Barker, who mixes the motifs o f the box and chains in his nightmarish
“Hellraiser” series.

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the cult o f the imprisoned, secretive god is not a dead cult (especially in India).
Rather, it is a living movement that has adapted and continued in plain sight.

Sovereign ty
One o f the fundamental traits o f many religious systems is the idea that the
cosmos possesses an aspect o f sovereignty. That is to say that within the cosmos,
and perhaps on different scales within the cosmos, there is an actual principle
o f law o f sovereignty, just as time and gravity are also laws. Sovereignty can be
understood as the cosmic claim to rule legitimately. It is very clear that in many
myths, there are different divine races that battle to control the world or the
heavens - that is an example o f the cosmic battle for sovereignty. Those entities
that are usually worshipped by religions have taken possession o f the principle
o f sovereignty, and those monstrous and frightening entities that wish to take
it away are thought o f as demons. Sometimes, it is the monsters that have the
sovereignty, as in the case o f the Aztec Tezcatlipoca, or sometimes sovereignty
can be granted temporarily, as in the Saturnalia/Cronia festivals. Sovereignty
can also be lost, as is demonstrated briefly during the Easter vigil.
The Saturnine deity is remembered as a sovereign, but He is not the current
sovereign o f the cosmos. He is a displaced and defeated ruler, and rules now
over the prison-realm to which He is confined. Nevertheless, primordial enti­
ties are immortal, and Saturn especially is said to personify the process o f time.
I f the Saturnine deity is understood as an actual chained god, it is reasonable to
assume that the deity wishes to be free, and that there are certain parties that
would very much like to arrange the freedom or escape o f this particular enti-
ty. One might wonder what Virgil intended when he wrote Magnus ab integro
saedorum nascitur ordo, iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna (The new world
order is born, and now justice returns, Saturn's reign restored). O f course, this
return to power would not go uncontested. In most mythologies, political and
social instability is said to reflect the chaos o f the divine order. The gods do not
reign unchallenged - they too must face the monsters and demons o f the spirit
world. I f one accepts that there are (or may be) spiritual or planetary forces
and intelligences that are behind the current and historical clashes o f civiliza-
tions, then it is not a far stretch to imagine that these 'deities' (by whatever

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name) have their own agendas. Deities, according to many traditions, tend to
be orderly and stabilizing cosmic entities. Yet deities also appear to be jealous
and territorial, and resist the coming of new cultures and religions into their
established territories. Such cosmic deities are also very likely to be hostile to
forces from beyond the cosmos - that is, Chaos. This means that consciously
choosing to align with Saturn - by whatever name - is likely to cause spiritual
and social turmoil around the magician who does so.

The Saturnine Path

T he choice to enter the current of the Saturnine deity should be consid-

ered carefully. Every text from antiquity and the middle ages, no matter
what the culture, carries warnings about dealing with the Lord of the Black
Cube. That is not an accident, and it is not coincidence. The Saturnine deity
is dangerous and capricious. If tradition is accepted, deliberately attracting
His attention without making the proper offerings and showing the proper
respect is an open invitation to injury, sickness, and death. If it were not the
case, it is unlikely that there would be repeated authors and entire stories that
serve as warnings away from the cult of the black god.
Nevertheless, there is definitely a Saturnine current, a system of praxis that
leads to the darker gnosis and insights that flow from this deity. The very same
texts that warn people away from Saturn also provide instructions on how one
can contact Saturn. None of them provide explicit instructions in how to enter
the current, beyond attempting the various operations to invoke (or evoke)
Saturn. Even the Hindu story of king Safnadula is curiously devoid of any
priests or brahmins - the "dark man” (clearly Saturn himself) simply instructs
the king on the details of the puja, which the king carries out.
Beware - the god of the Black Cube is a potentially dangerous god to engage
with, but deliberately choosing to take up His cause is tantamount to declaring

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war on the spiritual powers that have imprisoned or exiled Him. Nor is Saturn
to be thought a protector deity, because He is Himself already a marginalized
power. In other words, the Saturnine path, if we can speak of it in such a way,
cannot be a path of ease, because it is the deliberate rejection of the ruling
cosmic order. Nevertheless, the Saturnine cause it not hopeless, not by any
stretch. The Aztecs thought highly enough of the Saturnine deity to enshrine
him as chief of the gods, and both Indian tradition and Vodou continue to
revere Sani and Samedi; the Romans and Greeks carried out annual festivals
to placate Saturn and Cronos. Ibn Wahshiyya warns his reader that all suffer
when Zuhal's star crosses their path. Very few traditions even imagine that
he could be killed, for who could slay Time, or Chaos? No, the Saturnine deity
was feared, and being feared, was placated. This is likely because the cultures
that knew Him anticipated the possibility of His ascent to dominance. If the
gods themselves can be overthrown, then it could well be that Jupiter or Surya
would be supplanted by the maimed god, and that would be a very dark day for
those who had not shown Him the proper respect. The Saturnine cause might
be thought something of a dark horse, but that dark horse is definitely in the
race.
Saturn, in fact, appears not only to have an established modern cult in India
and also Haiti, but many theorists suggest that Saturn's Roman cult survives
today, hidden by operating boldly. A contemporary (2016) Google search on
such terms as "cult + Saturn" displays a large number of websites, videos, even
books on the "Saturn Conspiracy," "Saturn Death Cult," or other related move-
ments. Such links connect Saturn with the occult, ritual murders, government
conspiracy, even alien abductions. While the internet must be used judicious-
ly, it becomes clear, however, that many people are convinced that there is a
real Saturnine cult that holds considerable influence in international affairs,
and that its general orientation is very sinister in nature. One might be easily
tempted to dismiss this as wild conspiracy theory, which it may well be. Thar
said, having reviewed the scholarly traditions on Saturn, it is difficult to think
that such a movement would run contrary to the character of the deity as
portrayed by the ancient cultures. Given Saturn's widespread international
cult, He makes a very convenient subject for a dark deity figure poised for a

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cultural and political return to power. The associations with the Kaaba espe-
cially turn even Islam into a potential extension of the Saturnine current.
It is also good to note that in terms of esoteric traditions, Saturn continued
to have a particular appeal for magicians not only in India and the Caribbean,
but also in continental Europe. For example, the early twentieth century saw
the rise of a German thelemic society by the name Fratemitas Saturni (the
Brotherhood of Saturn). This particular lodge continues to operate today,
and has received some academic attention.29 It is believed that the 'Saturnine'
nature of the lodge is rather more one of essence than direct attachment to the
deity itself.

F raternias S aturni S ymbol

The Order of Nine Angles (ona ), a very antinomian Hermetic tradition which
formed in late twentieth century England, also made use of Saturn as an “acau-
sal” symbol. They associated the planet with dark forces and suggested that a
“stargate” could be found near to Saturn itself. The order also connects some
their more important spiritual entities to the planet. The ona and Fraternitas
Saturni are but two examples of recent esoteric currents which recognize
Saturn, at least tacitly, as symbolic of some dark spiritual energy (or gnosis)

29 See, for example, Stephen E. Flowers. Fire & lce: The H istory, Structure and R itu als o f G erm any's
M ost In flu en tia l M odern M agical O rder: The Brotherhood o f Saturn. St Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1994.

I ll
that their tradition is thought to embody. Both of these lodges serve as exam-
ples of ways in which the Saturnine current has diversified and adapted itself
to survive in recent years.
What, then, are the distinctive features of the genuine Saturnine path?
The contemporary Saturnine path, as this work defines it, is based largely
on the Saturnine traditions of antiquity. It acknowledges that Saturn (by what-
ever name) is a planetary intelligence, a deity that is connected to the cosmos
but originating in the black primordial Chaos that predates creation. The path
accepts that being hostile to the other powers o f the cosmos, this deity sets its
will against theirs, for which reason it has been maimed and exiled, chained
to rule over some black dimension symbolized by its planet, Tartarus, and also
the Black Cube. As evidenced by the many mythologies in which the Saturnine
deity appears, Saturn seeks and accepts the service of those parties who are
willing to pledge themselves to His cause. While the deity may be locked away,
through human agency and the correct operations, His energy and essence
(gnosis) can flow back into this realm, resulting in the sorts of conditions
which facilitate his more constant manifestation. The Regna Saturnia, the
Saturnine regime, is not a theoretical political model - it is an actual state of
political and social harmony achieved when humanity relinquishes its own
selfish ambitions and desires, putting aside anthrocentrism and egoism, and
embraces the sovereignty of the Chaos. This has been seen before during the
Aztec empire, and also in the early days o f the pre-Republic Rome. These were
genuine Saturnine kingdoms on earth, and appeared to have thrived for centu-
ries, before other spiritual powers supplanted them.
Already, we have read much of the virtues and powers of the black god.
The Saturnine deity is not a deity of brute force, but of subtlety and cunning.
His revolution will not be one carried out through force of arms, but rather
through the spiritual planes, as well as through the quiet corridors of power.
Saturn is the god of mystery, intrigue, stealth, secrets, and malice. A Saturnine
kingdom today could, for example, manifest as a powerful state where there
are cameras in every room, watchers on every street, and where people have
gladly surrendered their civil liberties and dignity in exchange for safety and
security. Put this way, it does not seem so farfetched. It could equally manifest

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as complete and utter anarchy, with the dissolution of the civil powers, and a
return to tribal or feudal living. This too can be seen today in the Near East. A
Saturnine kingdom does not necessarily need to have open temples to Saturn
- they would likely as not be hidden, kept secret and open only to those initiates
of the Saturnine fraternity. People who work towards any of these extremes
are equally good examples of Saturnine acolytes.
A person might be drawn towards the Saturnine cult because:

■ They feel an innate connection to the Black Cube.

■ They seek a spiritual tradition that is largely self-initiating but
historical.
■ They suffer from depression or illness, and want to work with it
instead of against it.
■ They are curious about the hidden world around them, and want to
work with a deity that gives the gift of revelation.
■ They have been wronged, hurt, maimed, and they want to work with
a deity who resonates with those traits.
■ They feel marginalized and liminal.
■ They are criminals or wish to involve themselves in illegal activities,
and feel the need for spiritual patronage.

What boons does the Saturnine deity give to His acolytes? First, initiation into
the current of the Black Cube brings gnosis, the mystical knowledge that flows
from the deity. Second, initiates of the current are able to draw on the power of
the Black Cube and its emanations, in order to work Saturnine magic.

Saturnine Gnosis
Soon after experiencing initiation, the Saturnine initiate begins to experience
the quiet, subtle flow of insights and whispers which trickle from the Black
Cube. The black gnosis of this deity is a mixed blessing. Indeed, as the patron
of secrets, intrigue, and hidden things, Saturn allows one to perceive truths
about oneself, one's peers, and into complex situations. Saturn is a granter of
wisdom and insight, and so the acolyte who bears the black gnosis becomes

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aware of social and mystical influences in his community and surroundings
that may not have been obvious earlier. Workplace tensions are suddenly
more evident, and the causes for such tensions become transparent. The black
gnosis can also make one aware of spiritual energies and entities which were
previously invisible to the acolyte. The devotee finds that his instincts become
sharper, and while he is not more charismatic exactly, he is better able to deal
with his peers and superiors by virtue of understanding more clearly the agen-
das and hidden aims of those parties. The unspoken conversations become
audible, and so career advancement becomes easier to chart and navigate. The
acolyte becomes especially aware of harmful energies, whether mundane or
supernatural, and being wary, is better able to defend himself from whatever
harm. The Saturnine initiate also finds that his esoteric skills improve in some
areas: divinations and malefica become much easier, as does magic related to
the dead. Finally, the black gnosis of Saturn is said to bring some degree of
good fortune, but more importantly, to help one to mitigate bad fortune of any
kind.
There is a downside to bearing the Saturnine gnosis, and the reader has
likely anticipated it from the first chapter. The black gnosis is incredibly heavy
(tamasic) in terms of its resonance, and it carries with it the essence of the cold,
grim deity. Saturn is an evil planet, and His gnosis is said by the ancients to
bring sorrow, depression, resentment, and suspicion. The Saturnine acolyte
may be successful at work, but friends might begin to look suspect. The flaws
in one's romantic partner are suddenly more sharply visible, as though the
devotee is seeing them truly for the first time. Saturn is a maimed deity, and so
His gnosis can prove difficult for the constitution of the bearer - old injuries
can flare up, or fatigue and malaise can become chronic problems. Through
black gnosis, one might advance rapidly at work, but may ruin friendships in
the process. Initiates might find that wealth is easy to come by, but become
miserly, and hurt friends and loved ones through a new selfishness. The acolyte
finally might swerve between a carnivalesque disregard for rules, or if in a posi-
tion of power, turn into something of a cruel dictator. He must be careful that
in cultivating a Saturnine resonance he does not destroy all the good things
that he has attracted to himself.

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 This being said, tradition shows that the negative aspects of the black gnosis
can be mitigated through devotion. Section Three of this work will relate some
of the simple and sustainable practices that an acolyte can undertake in order
to stave off the worst effects of Saturnine resonance.

Saturnine Mag ic
It is clear from current living tradition and historical record that the Saturnine
deity is considered a patron of sorcery and other secret arts like espionage or
poisoning. It is evident from all records that Saturn is not a benevolent deity,
and very few people have turned to Him for help in light-hearted matters.
Saturn is not a classical deity of healing, nor of charisma, or other solar func-
tions. Spells that invoke him in the medieval tradition are of two kinds: to hurt
someone, or else to contact the dead. These are both very valid examples of
Saturnine magical function. Nevertheless, the wider classical tradition, as
well as modern living traditions, are somewhat more ambitious on His behalf.
While Saturn is not a god of healing per se, He can be called upon to remove
sickness. He is a god of restraint, and so His power could effect the halting (or
slowing) of such diseases as cancer or Alzheimer's.
Although exiled and shunned by the other gods, one of Saturn's virtues is
a certain degree of influence and power over the other deities. In a sense, He
is able to usurp their own virtues for His ends. For this reason, the Islamic
and Indian cults both state that when a particular planet fails to fulfill your
request, it is possible to then take that request to Saturn. On the surface, this
sounds marvelous, as if Saturn is a catch-all deity. But that would be a bad
understanding of the tradition, because Saturn's radiance warps the power of
the other planets. An example here may be useful: let us say that a merchant
requires capital for an urgent business opportunity. They appeal to the Sun or
Mercury, but these operations fail. In desperation, and with time running out,
the magician presents the request to Saturn. A day later, the magician finds
out that a relative has died and left him some inheritance. Or another example:
an acolyte is in love with a colleague at work. He or she attempts a Venusian
operation, which does not succeed. They then present the request to Saturn.
The operation succeeds, and the co-worker is smitten. However, the acolyte

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discovers that the coworker has emotional issues which have inexplicably been
aggravated, and soon the acolyte wishes that he had never done the working
in the first place.
The point here is not to discourage people from attempting Saturnine
magic, but to illustrate that one needs to be cautious in using Saturnine power
as a 'big stick.' If it were not the case, then the warnings to this effect would not
be repeated in the various traditions.
Here follows a final example, which is a true story known to the author. A
young magician in university began to cultivate Saturnine devotion and decid-
ed to experiment with developing 'second sight.' With the understanding that
Saturn was a god of veiling and unveiling, the magician performed a Saturnine
operation to open the third eye and perceive the spirit world more clearly. The
ritual had no immediate effects, but then the magician began to perceive near-
by spirits at night, and often when it was time for sleep. Unfortunately, the
continued Saturnine work tended to attract chthonic and malevolent entities,
which would appear suddenly and then fade from view after several moments.
The condition never went away, leaving the magician with exhausting bouts
of insomnia.

Blood for the Reaper

One of the universal aspects of the historical and modern cult of the Black
Cube is the sacrifice of living beings, animal and human. In ancient times,
the authors of the Saturnine texts wrote that black animals are to be given to
Saturn, which is an indication of His chthonic nature. Black animals were only
ever given to underworld gods or spirits, such as Pluto, Hecate, or Yama, so
this says much about the Saturnine deity as a death god. We know also that
the North African cult, which worshipped Saturn as 'Baal Haamon,' is said to
have practiced human sacrifice by immolation, where the Romans practiced
it through the gladiatorial games, and Macrobius states that it was performed
through the ritual slaughter of criminals prior to the rise of the Republic.
Ancient cultures such as the Vikings and Celts are famous for their practices
o f animal and human sacrifice, and even the weekly Christian communion (or
Eucharist) is very possibly a Romanized sacrificial rite based on the Saturn

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cult, where wine is substituted for blood, just as it was done in funeral rites
during the Imperial period. On a similar note, when Tezcatlipoca was the chief
deity of the Aztec empire, human hearts were cut out and offered to him on a
daily basis.
This is all to show that Saturn is the Reaper, and His cult requires the death
or at least blood of living beings. Sacrifice of animals continues today, in India
and in the Carribean, where Lord Sani and Baron Samedi respectively receive
the blood of animals as part of the modern Saturnine cult.
Blood is power, and blood makes noise in the spirit world.30 Blood sacrifice
has been part of the worship of most of the world's ancient religious traditions.
In fact, Hinduism (in part) and Islam maintain blood sacrifice as an obliga-
tory annual practice. All traditional African and afro-centric religions like
Candomblé and Vodou practice animal sacrifice. Even in the Hajj, the great
pilgrimage which survives from pre-Islamic times, an animal is sacrificed to
the Lord of the Black Cube - understood today as Allah, but known in earlier
times as Dahr, the Arabian god of time. In other words, the Muslim ritual today
o f Eid el Kbir is a modern Islamic rite based on an ancient Saturnine ritual.
The modern occultist's aversion to blood is a strange thing, and is diffi-
cult to trace back past the early twentieth century. The most likely explana-
tion is that as the Christian West abandoned sacrifice in the medieval period,
sacrifice was seen as a 'barbarian' practice, only performed in the occiden-
tal colonial lands like Africa and India. Sacrifice was not seen as a 'white' or
'civilized' practice. Since occultism as it is practiced today is predominantly
Europeanized, the ancient traditions were revived half-heartedly. Sacrifice,
which is evident in the texts, had to be stripped out, and so many contempo-
rary occultists attempt to dismiss it as 'symbolic,' though they oddly maintain
that the gods themselves are real. This has led to systems of the occult today
which claim legitimacy based on their knowledge of tradition, while they para-
doxically abstain from (or worse, ridicule) the practice of blood sacrifice. This
30 For important insights into the nature of sacrifice and the relationship of blood and soul,
I once again refer the reader to the gnosis o f David Beth and also to the work o f Ludwig
Klages. See for example: C hthonic Gnosis. L u d w ig Klages and his Quest fo r the Pandaem onic A ll.
Theion Publishing, 2015.

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attitude of ridiculing the practice of sacrifice stems entirely from the Catholic
and Protestant Missionary movement, and it is unfortunate that modern
occultists have maintained these colonial Christian ideas in their occult prac-
tices. There is no room for the 'respectable colonial' occultist in the Saturnine
movement.
If someone wishes to approach the Saturnine deity, they should be aware
that this is not a bloodless cult. Saturn expects and demands blood - there is

S aturn , E ngraving by J acob M atham after H endrik G oltzius

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no documented account of any genuinely Saturnine cult without the sacrifice
of life. Saturn is an aspect of the divine Chaos, which predates life as we usually
understand it, and will eventually consume it all. Sacrifice is a way o f returning
life to Saturn, and through Him, to Chaos. Blood sacrifice is symbolic (of devo-
tion and faith), but it is also a very real magical act.
That said, if someone feels a strong aversion to offering the life of another
being, this need not be a barrier per se to the Saturnine cult. Many devotees
in India today do not offer blood directly (though the temples may), and so
there is precedent for approaching Saturn without the personal shedding of
blood. In this case, the acolyte is advised to follow the Roman custom of offer-
ing a small portion of their own blood, mixed with a larger portion of red wine.
However, in the view of the author such a 'sanitized' approach also reduces the
effect and power of the ritual and consequently the response and reverse flow
o f power to the initiate.

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 Section Three

Saturnine P ractice
 Overview

T
he first two sections of this book have dealt with the Saturnine cult on a
largely theoretical level. The author hopes sincerely that even a non-prac-
ticing reader might derive some benefit from having studied those sections,
even if only academic. However, this final chapter is dedicated to those read-
ers who are interested in actually self-initiating, and then developing the
Saturnine cultus on their own. The chapter outlines several of the spells and
practices discussed earlier in the book, as well as devotional actions which are
traditionally very pleasing to Saturn.

A W ord Of Caution
It seems necessary to include a word of caution. Whatever the views of the
reader, it has been the conviction of entire cultures for thousands of years
that Saturn is a dangerous deity with which to work. His influence, even to
His friends and devotees, can cause harm and hardship. If someone has read
this study and feels generally resonating with the character of the Black Cube,
then the practices here will genuinely help in building a relationship with the
deity. If, on the other hand, one believes that deities are merely archetypes or
symbols given meaning only through culture, then the author would recom-
mend the reader to seek out another grimoire with which to experiment. The
modern cult of self-deification or self-aggrandizement is incompatible with

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the Saturnine cult. Tradition makes clear that Saturn requires His students
and acolytes to begin from a position o f humility, even abasement. Partaking
in the cult of Saturn requires letting go of the ego, because only when the ego
is put aside will Saturn deign to share his black gnosis. Finally, Saturn is not
a symbol or archetype. The author holds that Saturn is entirely real, and His
power is not ever invoked lightly. If one wishes to begin these practices, it is
good to bear in mind that this deity, in every tradition, is as vindictive as He is
powerful. With this said, if having read this far you feel the urge to celebrate
the Saturnine mysteries, this third chapter is especially for you.

The Cult Of The Black Cube

There are two primary sections here: “Saturnine Devotion,” and “Saturnine
Magic.” Devotion consists of those traditional practices that are associated with
Saturn, and are intended and recommended to please the entity that dwells
in the Black Cube. Saturnine magic consists of those rituals and ceremonies
that are found in various ancient and medieval texts, as well as their particu-
lars, such as recommended incense, fumigations, colors, and other ceremonial
details.
This book, unlike the ancient grimoires that it draws from, aims to present
and apprehend the Saturnine deity as a force that is beyond any one culture.
Several cultures have developed their own unique cultus and practices around
the god of the Black Cube, and as we have seen, there is considerable overlap
in how those practices relate to each other. Nevertheless, this grimoire belongs
to the twenty-first century, and it is written in English for a contemporary
audience. Thus, there is something of a fine line to be walked between main-
taining tradition as much as possible, while adapting some details as needed.
We are not the first to do so - in past centuries, for example, the ingredients
of the fumigation to summon Saturn in Arabic were altered for Spanish and
Latin. That is not a question or error of translation - it was done because the
magicians involved in the cultus made the necessary adaptation based on the
plants and minerals indigenous to Spain, which were likely not indigenous
to Harran. Esoteric currents can adapt and still be traditional, as long as they
remain faithful to the spirit of the tradition, rather than its trappings. In other

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words, this grimoire will present the devotional practices and ceremonies not
as if they belong to four or five separate deities, but as practices that stem from
different regional parts of a single cult. The entire premise of this work is that
the Saturnine deity is one entity that manifests in different times and places,
but the fundamental essence of the deity is the same, and so the practices of
veneration and supplication are equally valid, wherever and whenever.

Saturnine Devotion: Establishing A Shrine

T he first step necessary to cultivate the devotion to Saturn is a sacred space

in which one can properly revere the deity, as well as perform rites and
ceremonies. This does not need to be a large space, but it should be a dedi-
cated area of your home which will not be used for other purposes. In this area,
you should assemble a shrine or altar space. As Saturn is a god of secrets and
mysteries, the shrine does not need to be obvious to others. It is very appropri-
ate for it to be hidden in plain sight, or to be in an area that is closed off to other
people. It is best if it can be placed away from high-traffic areas, or where it
might be disturbed by children or pets.
There is considerable flexibility in how you construct the shrine, and it need
not be especially ornate - in fact, tradition states that Saturn prefers rough and
dark objects, so a dark wooden table or cement blocks would in fact be prefer-
able to a golden altar. Shrines can be elaborate, but do not need to be. Saturn is
a deity of the low, as well as the high.
A basic shrine should contain the following items:

■ Saturnine idol: According to tradition, the most common idol of

Saturn is a black stone cube or obelisk, symbolic of the prison world ruled
by the dark god. As there are many aspects and attributes of Saturn, the

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 acolyte should feel free to choose whichever cultural mask of the god he
best identifies with. The Roman Saturn is as valid as Baron Samedi, for
example, as both exemplify very real aspects of the deity. It is important
to remember here that the true deity is the one behind the many various
names.

■ Altar cloths: The shrine should be draped in dark colors, like black,
blue, or very dark grey. The cloth should be made from wool if at all
possible.

■ Incense: The Saturnine deity accepts a wide range of incense mixes,

some of which are described below. Easily available examples include
aloe, as well as anything bitter-scented.

■ Oil: Oil is one of the most common offerings to the Saturnine deity.
Sesame oil and olive oil are the two preferred by the dark god.

■ Offering bowl: From time to time, it is advisable to make liquid offer-

ings to the Saturnine deity, or to burn small offerings on the shrine. In
this case, an offering bowl can greatly simplify the process.

■ Candles: These should be black or blue, and can be lit (or not) during
the days of the week, and during rites. It is traditional for the candles to
be allowed to burn all throughout the day on Saturday.

These items are suggested by tradition, but optional based on availability:

■ Secondary idols: While it is good to have a central deity installed,

there can be definite benefits to having other Saturnine images or
symbols on the table. This is in keeping with the medieval cultus of
Saturn, especially in Islamic tradition, which deliberately borrowed
from the other Saturnine cults. The secondary idols might also be used
for the Saturnine consort, such as Mater Lua, depending on the inclina-
tion of the acolyte.

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 ■ Cutting tool: An iron (or steel) knife, spike, or sickle is a useful imple-
ment, as some of the Saturnine rituals require bloodshed, or the use of a
sharp object to inscribe texts on ritual talismans.

■ Chains: Saturn is a chained deity, and so the presence of chains on

the shrine is a very effective tool for resonance. Chains should be iron or
steel, and can be worn by the devotee as a symbol of Saturn's imprison-
ment.

■ Iron jewelry: Rings, bracelets, and other jewelry of iron can be placed
on the shrine as gifts to Saturn. A month after they have been presented,
they can be 'borrowed' from the shrine, and worn as protective charms.

■ Black mirror: A dark mirror, a bowl of black fluid, or an obsidian

sphere are each good examples of the black mirror principle. The deity
may use this to reveal mysteries, and it can be employed as an effective
communion tool.

With the shrine established in the home or workplace, it is good to offer respects
daily to the idol of the deity. In a sense, once the shrine has been set up and the
image of the deity installed, it should be treated as a living thing. Lengthy devo-
tional rituals are not required on a daily basis, though there is no objection to
it. It is sufficient to greet the shrine respectfully once a day, offering what-
ever gesture feels culturally appropriate - some may bow, or kneel, or cover the
heart with the hands - and to speak in a polite, respectful tone. It is also recom-
mended to keep the shrine clean and clear of all dust and debris. Never under
any circumstances allow the shrine to be used for any other purpose, and do
not allow it to become neglected.
Be assured that over time, the energy of the dark god will slowly build with-
in the shrine. Saturn's power is slow and cold, and so a new acolyte should
not expect the shrine room to become suddenly filled with the Saturnine reso-
nance. It is more likely to take place over weeks and months of spiritual feed-
ing. Nevertheless, once that power begins to take root within the shrine, it is

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very hard to dislodge, and it becomes very pervasive. The aura of Saturnine
shrines, not surprisingly, tends to be somewhat grave, reserved, and even cold.
They can and will, however, manifest a certain level of chaos and even gallows
humor, especially if Baron Samedi is the chief Saturnine aspect propitiated.

Daily Offerings to the Shrine

In addition to greeting the shrine daily, it is good to make small offerings to
the shrine in order to show respect to the god. There is considerable flexibility
in what should be offered, but tradition indicates that a small amount of olive
oil, sugar, or sesame seeds can be used. These can be deposited in the bowl, and
after a day can be offered to someone in need (if feasible), or else given directly
to the earth. It is not recommended to eat from Saturn's table directly, but His
offerings can be given to others as a gift. The oil and sugar, for example, can be
baked into a cake and gifted to someone who has suffered ill fortune. Under no
circumstances should offerings be thrown out with garbage. In the case that
oil is offered, a dab of the oil can be placed on the idol - this is one of the most
common traditional practices of Saturnine devotion.

Establishing the Magical Link

As we said before, to forge an intimate link with the Saturnine deity, no exter-
nal initiation or esoteric transmission is necessary (although, depending on
the goals of the devotee this may be required later, see my comments on the
role of the teacher in a previous chapter). In agreement with the majority of
historical Saturnine texts, this grimoire simply requires adequate preparation
for ceremony and the dedicated cultivation of devotion to Saturn in order to
gain His blessings and Gnosis. The deity alone selects to whom He will reveal
Himself.
Initiation requires primarily the resolve (at some level) to take up the
Saturnine cause, and then to begin the devotional practices, first by the
construction of a sacred space (the shrine). If Saturn accepts the spiritual devo-
tion and respect being shown, the acolyte will begin to feel the transmission of
gnosis. It is not uncommon to experience dreams or visions of Saturn, or to
dream of symbols, vivid colors, objects (like the Black Cube), or animals associ-

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ated with Saturn, or even to dream about places and characters associated with
the Saturnine current. The oncoming of Saturnine gnosis can be unpleasant -
tradition states that Saturn often gives the bad before the good. As an example,
a potential acolyte with a normally positive state of mind could become cyni-
cal and depressed in a relatively short period of time. If the initiate somehow
retains a level of clinical objectivity during the early days of Saturnine practice,
this is a very good thing. One effective technique is the keeping of a journal, to
keep track of one's experiences, insights, and emotional states following the
first initiatic steps on the Saturnine path.
However, if after several months there is no sense of connection to Saturn,
and no perceptible change in insight, ability, or state of mind, it may be good
for acolytes to assess their practice. It may be that they have approached Saturn
without sincerity or with hesitation, in which case their devotion may not be
producing sufficiently strong psychic noise to reach the deity. Saturn is said to
be 'distant' for a reason, and He is not thought to be as accessible as other more
cosmic deities like the solar or lunar gods. Alternately, the prospective initiate
may simply not be on the same spiritual frequency as Saturn, and so this may
not be the best current for him. While we do not say that he should abandon
the Saturnine practices altogether, he may wish to explore other esoteric and
gnostic schools of practice. That is not at all an indication of failure, but rather
merely suggestive that the natural energies of the person are not conducive to
Saturn's energy, or possibly that it is not the right time in that person's life for
Saturn to appear. If a person has a strong Jupiterian or Solar resonance, for
example, he may not be suited for Saturnine work. Some teachers have also
suggested that during the adolescent and early adult years it may be harder
to practice the Saturnine cult, because Saturn's influence tends to favor those
who have reached maturity, especially those who are elderly or in the voca-
tional roles discussed in Section One.
All this said, some people will still wish to perform an initial ceremony to
mark their first step on the Saturnine path, and that is a normal and healthy
desire. If this is the case, the reader can make use of the rite below. This ritual
can also be used in conjunction with the establishment of a Saturnine shrine
(also discussed below), so that it is used to empower the shrine/idol, rather

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than the acolyte himself. This particular variance o f practice is more commonly
found in the eastern Saturnian cults (Indian and Islamic), and is still very well
attested and respected in those regions. The ritual is detailed below on p. 141f.

Saturnine Magic

T his grimoire is based on textual and spiritual traditions that show hard
evidence of Saturn being a magical deity, and a patron especially of the
darker spiritual arts. Admittedly, Saturnine magic has rarely been used with
positive intentions, unless there is a genuine emergency. After reading so
many texts that discuss Saturn as a God of sorcery, it would be reasonable
for someone to think that taking the Black Cube as spiritual patron means
having to practice magical rites. The author would like to make plain that this
is not at all the case. One can feel a resonance with the Saturnine deity, and
decide to commune and connect with that entity, and have no desire (or abil-
ity) for magic. Devotion is power and brings power. The Saturnine deity will
give His black gnosis to anyone who truly seeks Him, provided that they revere
Him properly. In fact, it is very accurate to say that the genuine power of the
Saturnine current is not tied to individual rites per se but is derived from a
constant devotion to the Lord of the Black Cube which triggers a gradual flow
of gnosis and empowerment.

Saturnine Devotion: Daily Practices

While Saturday is the dominant day of the week celebrated by the Saturnine
acolyte, one should select several daily practices which are simple and sustain-
able. By "sustainable," we mean that the practices should be something that
will not cause exhaustion or frustration in the long term, and so they should
not be elaborate in terms of time or expense. It is far better to have a simple

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daily routine that can be performed in 10-15 minutes, as opposed to doing
nothing all week and then a three-hour ritual on Saturdays alone. Deities are
selfish beings, and a worshipper who ignores their deity six days out o f seven
will find that they receive the same sort of attention (if any) from the deity. As
an example of this principle, even though the Romans ceremonially chained
up the chief idol of Saturn for most of the year, they never neglected the idol.
The Temple of Saturn at Rome maintained a permanent cult and dedicated
priesthood, and was entrusted with the federal treasure - this indicates that
Saturn received daily adoration in exchange for His continued patronage of
the empire. In the same way, the Saturnine acolyte should maintain a level of
veneration that is sustainable throughout the year. It is also good to note that
initiates from many esoteric cults often experience great zeal at the beginning,
which is commendable, but this can lead to beginning very advanced or ardu-
ous practices, which eventually lead to spiritual burn-out. There is nothing
wrong with rigorous devotion, on the contrary even, but it should not be so
rigorous that it becomes a dreaded chore, or worse, is eventually abandoned.
It should be noted that Saturnine devotion is never ostentatious. While
some esoteric currents do have very visible forms of devotion, the Saturnine
cult is predicated on mystery. You alone should know that you are carrying
out acts of devotion, with the only exception of close family and friends who
are supportive of your activities. Even then, Saturnine devotion is especially
potent when it is carried out entirely in secret.
There are several traditional daily devotional practices to show respect to
Saturn, which can include:

PRAYER
Tradition shows that as the Saturnine deity is moved by humility, prayer is an
effective way to approach the Lord of the Black Cube. This grimoire contains
several examples of very traditional prayers, which can be memorized, or else
recited aloud from a text. Saturnine prayer is best performed quietly or silently,
and in secret. Alternately, acolytes may compose their own prayers as desired,
in whichever language - Saturn is not an earthly being, and He has no particu-
lar attachment to any one language. Also, traditions are never static and always

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developing, thus it is better to offer a new prayer that feels sincere, rather than
an ancient prayer that feels archaic and awkward. While some contemporary
esoteric currents are scornful about prayer, or indeed deference to spirits of
any order, the Saturnine tradition demands approaching Saturn as a suppli-
cant, not as an equal.

CHAINS
A simple but effective devotional practice is the wearing of iron or steel chains.
These can be on the wrist or neck, or elsewhere on the body that is convenient.
Chains symbolize the chains which Saturn himself wears, and by wearing
chains of iron (or a similar composite metal), the acolyte is making a conscious
decision to identify with the god. If chains are not feasible or cause irritation,
the acolyte could chose to borrow the Roman concept of using wool cords
instead, in which case he will wish to use wool that has preferably been dyed
black, blue, or dark grey.

CHAR ITY
Saturn can be a malevolent force, but like any ancient king, He is magnani-
mous. Giving charity secretly in his name is recommended as a solid tradi-
tional practice. This can be an anonymous donation, in which case it should
be given to a group of marginalized and disenfranchised people, to foreigners,
to the elderly, or to people suffering from chronic illness. If the donor receives
any praise or credit for the gift, Saturn will not accept the act as devotion. In
some cases it may not be possible to maintain complete anonymity, in which
case the acolyte should simply strive to make the charity as quietly as possible.

M ANTRAS
The Indian cult of Saturn has several mantras that have proven very effective
since antiquity, and these may be found in various sources online and in print.
Mantras are said to be especially effective if received from a living teacher,
but this is not always practical or possible. The best one recommended by the
author is the following: om s h a m s h r i s h a n a i s h c h a r a y a n a m a h a . A devotee of the
Saturnine cult in India today would recite this phrase at least 108 times per

132
day, quietly or silently. While this mantra can be recited at any time of the day,
according to tradition it is most effective at sunset, or otherwise right before
sunrise. As a nocturnal deity, Saturn's mantra can be recited at night without
ill effects. This particular mantra is said to have two primary effects: first, it
neutralizes or mitigates the most harmful effects of Saturn's gaze; second, it is
said to promote good fortune and earn the favor of the deity.

Sacred Time

A s a deity with power over time, or perhaps even the personification o f time,
Saturn is associated with two calendar dates. One is the weekly day which
is named in his honor (Saturday), and the other is the annual Saturnalia festi-
val in December. Both are considered sacred time for the Saturnine acolyte.
These are discussed below, together with the special acts of worship which are
expected to be carried out.

SATURDAY
The seventh day of the week is named for Saturn, not only in the Western
calendar, but in Indian calculation of time as well. This has been the case
since ancient times, and it is not by accident that the very name of the week
in English has maintained this association, despite the other days of the week
being Anglo-Saxon in origin. (Sun-day, Moon-Day, Tiw's-Day, Woden's-Day,
etc.). How then should Saturday be observed? The traditional response is that
Saturday, being special to Saturn, is the day on which some level of ritual
worship should take place. The ceremony need not be elaborate or lengthy, but
it is worth taking some time to respect the shrine, present new offerings, and
ask for the continued favor and benediction of the Saturnine deity. Saturnine
worship on Saturday involves the performance of ideally two or more of the

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standard daily practices. In fact, one could very reasonably do all o f them,
including the offerings.
In terms o f offerings, it is good to present additional gifts to Saturn on that
day. Saturnine offerings are o f two kinds: those to be burned, and those to be
given in charity. Traditional texts state that Saturn likes to have black leath-
er, grease, even carrion burned in his honor. A contemporary acolyte might
choose to cut up an old leather item (like a wallet or purse) and to burn strips
o f it. This demonstrates the destruction o f the material reality, which is part
o f Saturn's role in the cosmic drama. In terms o f items to be given in charity,
Saturn prefers black and dark blue things, so some good contemporary offers
could include molasses, coffee, black bean, sesame, olive and sesame oil, and
dark clothes - all o f which can be donated to charities, foodbanks, and shel-
ters afterwards. It should be noted that these items are not presented and then
kept by the acolyte, as this is certain to attract very bad luck. After presenting
the items to the shrine, they should be given the same day to whatever shelter
or charity, or set aside in a private place to be given on the next Saturday. The
act o f donation is part o f the worship. It is also recommended to give money in
charity on Saturdays especially. This cash does not need to be presented to the
shrine and can be given to the charity, or ideally to a poor person directly. The
giver must have the intention in mind, at the time o f giving, that the donation
is a Saturnine act.
Saturday is a day o f restraint. It is a day where the Saturnine acolyte should
practice some level o f restriction. This can be fasting, abstaining from smok-
ing or alcohol or the internet or sunlight. The restriction should be unique
to you, and it should genuinely involve giving up something that you like. By
experiencing and knowing restriction, you are better able to understand the
principle o f chaining, and to better identify with the Saturnine god. Tradition
holds that metaphorically chaining yourself for Saturn's sake is pleasing to the
deity.
Finally, if the acolyte follows the practice o f sacrifice, or intends to perform
any Saturnine magic, Saturday is the most auspicious time o f the week to do
so. Within Saturday, the first and eighth hours immediately after sunrise and
sunset are considered especially auspicious for any Saturnine rituals.

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SRTUGRRUR
The great Greco-Roman festivals of the Cronia/Saturnalia have been discussed
in Section One already as a well attested practice. The Saturnalia festival takes
place in the month of December every day, beginning on 17th and ending on
the 23rd. For the Saturnine acolyte today, the Saturnalia represents a chance to
shake free from the shackles of responsibility and social norms, and to engage
in otherwise chaotic acts. On a positive note, this festival coincides with the
Christmas season (which was intended to supplant the Saturnalia), and ironi-
cally Christmas presents a good pretext for otherwise eccentric behavior.
During the Saturnalia, the contemporary acolyte can adapt some of the
following customs:

■ Dress: Saturnalia is a time to indulge in styles and fashions that one

might normally shun. Hair styles, clothing, colors can all be experiment-
ed with.

■ Food and Drink: During the Saturnalia festival, consider trying foods
or flavors you normally might avoid. The festival is a time for indulgence.
If possible, see if your family can have some of its festive meals ahead
of Christmas day, so that whatever traditional foods (which are usually
specific to the season and therefore abnormal otherwise) can be enjoyed
together. If you normally avoid sugary things and sweets, indulge for a
change. Get drunk - of course, not to the point of dangerous behavior,
but so that you feel free to be yourself. This is the time to throw off all
reasonable restraints.

■ Parties: Throw an office 'holiday party' as a covert Saturnalia event.

Bringing people together for wild fun is positive and good, creating the
type of chaos that will make the workplace less of a hive and more of a
home. Be bold - this could be the time to express interest in that attrac-
tive single friend or co-worker. Be smart - this is absolutely not the time
to sexually harass someone. Since the larger community does not cele-
brate Saturnalia, it is necessary to not engage in out-of-control behavior

135
 that will trouble you throughout the year. Unlike the days of Imperial
Rome, there are consequences to bad behavior that will not be forgiven
after the festival ends.

■ Gifts: It is traditional to offer small gifts to friends and family. These

should not be expensive. As the Christmas season follows on the heels
of Saturnalia, this provides a pretext for gifts, if one is needed. Through
giving gifts, even humorous ones, one embodies the magnanimity of the
exiled king.

■ Chaos: The overall purpose of the Saturnalia festival is to celebrate

the temporary release of Saturn from the prison of the Black Cube, but
also to release His chaotic essence into the social fabric. This is a time to
celebrate freedom from the restrictions of the world, and to be free from
the shackles of the expectations and restrictions of others. Try something
new and different, a hobby, a style of music. Change your routine - sleep
during the day and work by night. By behaving in alternate and alien
patterns, you are discharging the energy of chaos and uncertainty into
your own private world, which will trickle into the larger world around
you. Above all, be the part of yourself that you are normally afraid to be.

Saturnine Incense
There are two recommended incenses for Saturn. Both are found in The Picatrix
(Book 3.6)31 and hence are traditional recipes.

■ Take equal parts of opium, styrax (herb), saffron, laurel seed, costly
wormwood, dry wool, bitter apple, black cat hairs. Grind this together,
then mix it together with black wool. Roll it into threads to form incense
sticks, which can be burned in the rites.

Or:

31 Adapted from the Ouroboros edition.

136
 ■ Take an equal amount of Armenian incense, juniper and the seed of
the tar tree [or tar], dates and asparagus. Grind them all together and
knead them and cook them with basil. Then roll it into incense balls, and
burn them during the rites.

Saturnine Offerings
The traditional texts all insist that the Saturnine cult demands blood offer-
ings. If the acolyte does not agree with animal sacrifice, he may choose his own
blood mixed with wine as a substitute. Preferable animal sacrifices should be
dark grey or black in color, and are best if they are unblemished. The tradition-
al texts identify Saturn's preferred sacrifices as cattle, goats, sheep, cats, and
bats. Animals are to be slaughtered as painlessly as possible, and the blood of
the animal is presented to the idol on the shrine via the offering bowl. Sacrifices
are almost always performed during one of the rites to summon a manifesta-
tion of Saturn.

137
Saturnine Rituals
 Self I nitiation R ite

T he acolyte who wishes to be initiated into the Saturnine current should

first construct a simple household shrine (discussed above). If this is not
possible for whatever reasons of safety or privacy, then a small temporary
altar should be set up, positioned in the northern part o f the room, so that the
acolyte faces north when standing at the altar. On the altar or shrine should
be placed such items as incense, blue or black candles, a sharp knife, and an
offering bowl. The offering bowl should have a small mixture of olive oil with
charcoal or ashes, creating a black paste.

The Rite

■ The acolyte begins the rite by generating a sincere desire to connect

with the Saturnine deity.

■ He next should bow towards the Saturnine idol/symbol on the

shrine, and then light the incense and candles.

■ He then fumigates the idol and the four directions.

■ Likewise, the knife is shown to the idol and the four directions.

141
 ■ The celebrant cuts his left hand (thumb or fingers), and then mixes
his blood into the black paste in the offering bowl.

■ The bloodied offering bowl is now shown to the idol.

■ The acolyte takes some of the black paste and makes a black mark
(representing Saturn) on his forehead.

■ The acolyte kneels before the altar and recites this invocation:

I call You, dark father, in the name o f Chaos which placed You over the
seventh sphere. I call You, who are given to cold thoughts and colder
acts, You in the seventh sphere. Master and Prisoner of the Black Cube,
some call You Saturnus, or Keyvan, or Zuhal, or Chronos, and others
Sani. I call You by Your secret name,32 oh Saturnine god! By the inexo-
rable name and by these offerings I give to You, I ask You to manifest
within me. Overshadow me with Your glory. Oh great Master, placed in
the highest realm, cold and dry in nature, You are noble and fair, just in
Your enmity with humanity. Oldest o f the powers, first of the firstborn,
descend and dwell within me.

The acolyte should seat himself on the ground and visualize the Saturnine
power descending and filling him. The gnosis of the deity will feel cold and
dark. It is good to meditate for as long as possible, focusing the mind on the
images of Saturn which appear. This initiation ritual can be performed repeat-
edly (meaning once a month, twice a year, etc.), especially if the acolyte feels a
desire to connect with the energies of the deity.

32 The 'secret' or 'true' name mentioned in this and other rituals is either communicated orally
to the celebrant by his teacher or has been gifted to the fortunate initiate directly by the
Saturnine deity.

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 The Oracle of Cronos

T his spell is intended to summon a manifestation o f Cronos to serve as an

oracle. This ritual is not intended to ask favors o f the dark lord, but rath-
er to beseech Him to answer questions about the past, present, or future. As
Cronos (Saturn) is Lord of Time, He is one o f the greatest of the oracular gods
o f antiquity. The spell suggests that the deity will appear in a hostile form,
which may be due to the fact that the magician appears to threaten the deity
in the original text. As the Saturnine acolyte would never dare to menace the
god, the text has been adapted to represent the greater international cult. In
the formula to call the god, the letters 'NN' indicate that the acolyte should state
whatever their request may be.

The Rite33
Prior to the ritual, the initiate should put on clothing of rough, black cloth.
Black wool is best, if available. The ritual should be performed at night in a
place where grass grows.
First, kindle a small ritual fire. Into it, offer sage to the god, together with
blood, the hair of a cat, and manure. Then take two handfuls of salt, and grind
with a hand mill while saying the formula many times, until the god appears to
you. If, while you are speaking, you hear the heavy step o f someone and a clat-

33 Adapted from PGM IV. 3086-3124.

143
ter of iron, the god is coming bound with chains, holding a sickle. But do not
be frightened, since you are His devotee.

The formula to be spoken while you are grinding the salt is this:

'I call you, the great, holy, the one who created the whole inhabited world,
against whom the transgression was committed by your own son, whom
Helios bound with adamantine fetters lest the universe be mixed togeth-
er, you hermaphrodite, father o f the thunderbolt, you who hold down
those under the earth, Aie Oi Paidalis Phrenoteicheido Stygardes Sankleon
/ Genechrona Koirapsai Kerideu Thala-Mnia Ochota Anedei; come, master,
god, and tell me by necessity concerning the nn matter, for I am the one
who revolted with you against Coelus, Paidolis Mainolis Mainolieus.’

And the formula which soothes his wrath is:

‘Kybdobris Koderieus Ankyrieus Xantomoulis.’

You say these things when He appears threateningly, in order that He might be
placated and speak about the things you ask.
When the rite is ended, the road back to the Black Cube can be opened with
these words:

Anaea Ocheta Thalamnia Keri-Deu / Koirapsia Genechrona Sanelon Sty-

Gardes Chleido Phrainole Paidolis laei, Depart to your rest, my lord, master
of the world, forefather; go to your own places in order that the universe
be maintained. Be gracious to me, lord.'

144
 To Summon Saturn - Variant I

T his is one of the three great rites to draw on the power of the Black Cube.
This rite is something of a catch-all, as the author of the original grimoire
wrote it in such a way that the magician can add their own particular needs.
This rite is distinct from the two which follow it by virtue o f the fact that it is
essentially bloodless and does not require (or even recommend) the sacrifice
of a living or dead animal. As with any particular ritual to call on Saturn, the
magician is recommended to remember that Saturnine magic can be a very
double-edged sword.

The Rite34
When you address Saturn, dress yourself in black. Betake yourself to the prop-
er place on Saturday, having in hand an iron ring, and take with you a censor
in which you place charcoal burning with incense. [Recipe of incense found
earlier on p. 136f.]. Having fumigated the shrine, speak thus:

'Oh great master who possesses a great name and who is situated above
all planets, you who is placed high and in an elevated place. You are
the Lord Saturn, cold and dry, shadowy, author o f good, true in your
friendship, sincere in your promises, persistent and tenacious in your

34 Adapted from the Latin Picatrix, Book III.

145
 friendships and enmities, of tenacious and profound intellect, true in
your sayings and your promises, unique in your operations, isolate,
apart from the other gods, with sorrow and suffering, distant from
mindless pleasure. You are the old one, the ancient, at once wise and a
destroyer of good judgement, you mix good and evil. Sad and unhappy
is he who vexes you, happy is he whom you favor. In you is placed virtue
and power, a spirit of doing good and evil. I demand, father and lord,
by your high names and your marvellous actions to do for me [nn ] I call
you by your names, oh Heylil, you in the seventh heaven: Zuhal (Arabic),
Saturn (Latin), Keyvan (Persian), Chronos (Greek), Sacas (India).'

T his rite, as the one that precedes it, is intended to call on the power of the
Saturnine deity for whatever reasons the magician requires. This vari-
ant, from the same manuscript (The Picatrix) as the previous one, follows the
same general format. The magician must fumigate the shrine with Saturnine
incense, then chant the spell. Afterwards, however, the ritual text requires the
sacrifice of a black goat.

The Rite35
Begin the ritual at the shrine. Make sure your incense is in an iron brazier. After
censing the shrine, the magician should recite the following incantation:

In the name of C haos, In the Name of ashbeel the mandatory king of

Saturn in all the cold and ice, the Owner of the Seventh Orbit, I call you
with all your names: in Arabic zuhal, in Persian kiwan , in Roman, satur -
nus , coronis in Greek, and in Indian shanshar . In the name of the God
of the Upper Structure, accept my request and accept my call and obey
the God of the Dominion and make my request [nn ] come true.

35 Adapted from the Ouroboros Picatrix, Book III, p. 72.

146
Then you praise Chaos, and you present a sacrifice for Saturn. Traditionally,
the sacrifice was a black goat, which was slaughtered, and its liver cooked and
eaten by the magician or beneficiary of the ritual. Alternatively, the contempo-
rary magician might purchase a goat or cow liver from a butchery, offer it to
the god, and then cook and eat it.

Variant I I I

T he third of the great rites to summon Saturn is derived from Ibn

Wahshiyya's Nabataean Agriculture. This ritual comes from an older textual
tradition than the two other Saturnine rites recorded in The Picatrix. It requires
a sacrifice of carrion, namely dead bats and mice. Ibn Wahshiyya reports that
he himself (supposedly a Muslim) has made use of its spell and finds it to be
effective. This spell comes with several warnings, which suggest that humility
is one of the keys to its success.

The Rite36
It is best to perform this ritual when Saturn is in an auspicious celestial posi-
tion, otherwise his negative influence may ruin the desired result of the ritual.
First, kindle a small sacred fire before His shrine. Next, into the sacred fire,
offer pieces of old leather, covered in grease and blood. When the fire has
burned down, then gather the ashes. Smearing the ashes on your face and
hands, you should bow low to Saturn's shrine, or else towards a black cube
on black cloth or sand. As Saturn is a grim and sinister god, it is necessary to
show great humility when asking Him for favors. Yet He is magnanimous, like
all kings, and rewards displays of humility with great generosity. Recite the
prayer below in a low tone.

I address myself to Saturn, standing, I ask and I honor You with obedi-
ence and humility; I address Him, standing and facing the exalted

36 Adapted from N abataean Agriculture, pp. 141-145.

147
master, alive and eternal, solid in His power and dominion. He is eter-
nal in his heaven and mighty in His dominion, focused in His efforts
and His great works. He is over all, His power is over all living things on
earth, and they endure by His endurance. By His power and His might
He began them, and He causes them to continue; He causes us to endure,
and by His eternity and perpetuity, He brings permanence on earth. By
His might, He causes the waters to ebb and flow. Living, He causes life
to move, because He is himself alive.

He is cold, as is His nature. Through the influence of His high realm, the
trees grow, and the earth becomes heavy under the weight of His move­
ments; if He wishes, He causes beings to become what they are not. Yet
He is wise and a creator by His might and intelligence; His Knowing
extends to all things.

Hail, lord of the heavens, may Your name be holy, pure and honored. I
obey You; I address myself to Your ancientness, I call You by Your names,
Your ancientness, Your nobility and honor. I demand from You whom I
respect to strengthen my mind, that it be strong and enduring and dwell
in me while I live. Then when I die, ward off the worms and reptiles from
my flesh. You are a merciful and ancient teacher, and no one can save the
one You condemn. You are persistent in Your words and deeds, and You
regret not Your acts. You are slow and profound in your powers. You are
a master whose deeds cannot be undone, and what You forbid cannot
be done by another. You are respected in all Your actions and unique in
Your kingdom. You are the lord o f the other planets, and the very stars
fear the sound of your movement and tremble before Your gaze.

I ask and demand You to avert Your evil from me, and in Your purity,
to treat me well. By Your good and noble names, I avert Your evil, and I
draw from Your virtue. By Your names, by Your True Name which You
love more than the others, treat me well and grant [nn ].'

148
 The B lack Cube

T
his ritual has a very simple incantation, but the preparation is somewhat
challenging. It requires the creation o f a cube with an iron base, and the
inscription of Saturnine names into the sides. A sacrifice is then made, and the
magician can make his request. This spell does not summon Saturn directly,
but rather draws on the power of His component souls.

The Rite37
To ask a specific need of Saturn you need to approach Him when the Sun
descends to Capricorn's sign or the Moon is in Sagittarius.
■ You make a cube (preferably o f iron) and put on it colored clothes,
green, black and red.38
■ Inscribe the names Tus (Top), Khrus (Bottom), Ciyus (Right), Diriyus
(Left), Tamus (Front), Dorus (Back) on the Cube.
■ Then take the cube to the desert under a fruitless tree. Alternatively,
bring it to a desolate place with little vegetation. This could be an
abandoned factory, or the wilderness, or a graveyard. You must

37 Adapted from Ouroboros Picatrix 3.9.

38 The clothes here is a reference to the kisw a , the tent-like covering o f the Kaaba in Mecca.

149
 bring a sacrifice of raw, bloody meat (preferably beef) and kindle a
small sacred fire .39
■ Then you say
Brimas, Tos, Khroos, Kiyoos, Chardiyos, Tamoos, Rtyoos, Taheed, Seyrah,
Mandool
This means, "Come spirits, this is your sacrifice.”
■ You will now present the sacrifice to the cube and burn the meat,
together with the hair of a black cat, and some carob, myrrh, and
juniper.
■ Then ask for what you desire.

39 The original rite asks to bring a calf or a cow as well as incense made o f a black cats' brain,
its guts, carob, myrrh, juniper. The sacrifice shall then be slaughtered as painlessly as possi-
ble and be presented to the cube.

150
 T h e R ite of Chains

T
here are many rites by which one can connect to the Saturnine current;
none are undertaken lightly, but some rites are heavier than others. Having
practiced the previous rituals for no less than a year, and only if a magician feels
a very strong affinity for the deity, he or she may wish to take steps to perma-
nently bind themselves to the god. Such a choice must be pondered deeply as in
order to become a true priest or priestess of the Saturnine deity, one must freely
surrender one's own essence to the lord of chains. In other words, the magi-
cian must deliberately offer to the god his very soul, as well as his personal
hopes and ambitions, as an act of sacrifice. The Saturnine deity will accept no
lesser gift as the price of admission to His inner sanctum. One does not need to
perform this ritual in order to practice the Saturnine cult, or Saturnine magic.
This route must exclusively be taken by those who having tasted the bitter-
sweet gnosis of the god, wish to bind themselves to the Black Cube, and to
its eternal current. To the believers in the cycle of rebirth, this ritual creates
karmic (or psychic) chains that cannot be broken, and commit the magician's
future selves to the service of the god. It is one thing to sip from Saturn's black
cup of gnosis - it is another to drain it to the dregs. If you have any doubts
about performing this rite, then do not pursue it further. Caveat cultor.

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Pre-Ritual Instructions

■ T h e ritu a l sh o u ld id e a lly be p e r fo r m e d in w in te r, on a S a tu r n n ig h t
d u r in g th e w a n in g m o o n . T h e m a g ic ia n m u st o b se rv e so m e fo rm o f
rig o ro u s s e lf-r e s tr a in t (like sile n c e or fa stin g ) fo r 24 h o u rs p rio r to
th e rite.
■ The magician should perform the rite in a stone (not wooden) cham-
ber below ground, like a cellar or basement. Ventilation is impor-
tant, as the ritual involves fire.
■ The magician must wear black clothing, scissors, a neck-chain or
wrist-chain of steel or iron, and three scraps of black leather. The
black scraps of leather must be smeared ahead of time with the
magician's blood, urine, and sexual fluids - this should be done
the day before, so the leather and fluids are dried by the time of
the ritual. The magician's name must be written or carved into the
three scraps of leather.
■ Three pieces of paper should also be prepared. The first has the
name and family tree of the magician; the second contains an
account of their most vivid memories; the third has a description of
their hopes for the future.
■ A black cup of red wine should be present, and should be bitter (not
sweet) if possible.
■ For this ritual, no shrine is needed. Instead, a small fire is kindled in
a brazier facing west.
■ The room should be censed with pungent incense prior to the ritual.

The Site
The magician should begin the rite by bowing to the west, then kneeling or
sitting before the sacred fire.

152
Incantation:

Lord of the West, Who dwells beyond the darkness, hear my call. You
who were there before the other gods, you who rule over the living and
the dead, who bind all beings in chains and are lord of fate and time.
You who some called Saturn, other Shani, and Zuhal, You who some call
Ialdabaoth, and Kronos! Now I call you by a secret name, S o n e r o , which
gods and demons fear to say. When your dwelling is in the nether world,
you are lord over the dead. When your dwelling is in the night sky, you
are lord over the stars. You are the master of destiny, and the gods go in
fear of you. Sun, moon, and stars bow to your will, and so now do I also.

C o m e , S o n e r o , fro m y o u r co ld th ro n e . C o m e, lo rd o f th e b la ck cu be,
a n d a c c e p t th is sa c rific e fro m y o u r tru e d a u g h te r/so n . To Y o u , lo rd , I
o ffe r all.

Magician takes the first pieces of leather and paper and offers them into the
fire. They imagine their soul/name/essence being consumed.

Lord, I [name of magician] freely offer you my name, my being, my

essence.

Magician takes the second pieces of leather and paper, and offers them into
the fire. They imagine their past life, their memories, and their relationships
being consumed by the fire.

Father, I offer you my past, my memories, my victories and failures.

Magician takes the third pieces of leather and paper, and offers them into the
fire. They imagine their possible future choices and chances being consumed.

Master, I offer you my future, my dreams and hopes.

153
The magician takes the scissors, and cuts a small piece of his hair. This should
be offered into the fire.

My flesh and blood are yours to command. While you are bound to your
throne, I shall be your ears and eyes. When you command, I shall serve
as your hand in this world, according to your whim.

The magician takes the cup of bitter wine in both hands.

Your truth is the only truth that I seek. With your eyes I will see, and
with your ears will I hear. The past and present shall be known to me,
for I am a priest/ess of the Saturnine deity. Speak to me, tell me your
secrets.

The magician drains the cup to its dregs. Then, they should meditate on the
Saturnine deity in whatever form seems best to them. If the ritual is performed
correctly, they will receive gnosis directly from the god. This will be personal,
and should not be shared. After the period of meditation and the reception of
gnosis, the new priest/ess takes the chain and binds it on their neck or wrist,
saying:

Your chains have freed me from karma. By night, I have become the
bearer of chaos into the world. By day, I have become a bringer of your
new order. I have taken your chains upon myself, and shall go forth as an
agent of the Black Throne.

Be well, Lord and Father, and be pleased with me, now and always.

The magician should bow low to the west, and extinguish the flame. He should
leave the chamber, bath, and retire for the night. Any dreams should be record-
ed, if possible, as they may be significant.

154
 Concluding Remarks

W ith roots stretching back into antiquity, the Cult of the Black Cube has
celebrated the Saturnine deity under many names and in many places.
Even today we still acknowledge the living Saturnine traditions in India and
within the Afro-Caribbean currents. I hope to have shown with this work that
there is a very rich corpus of Saturnine rites and ceremonies recorded in medi-
eval and classical texts, which provide a window into how many of the great
cultures of the world understood this powerful deity. Saturn is feared, not only
because He is a deity, or because of His association with death and the under-
world, but because He represents the aspect of Chaos that remains within the
cosmos. Chaos is depicted in many ancient creation myths, and it seems to
serve two predominant roles.
First, Chaos is life - it is the generative, primordial darkness from which the
cosmos emerges. Chaos is a kind of parent, even referred to as the "mother" of
the Archons in some of the Gnostic traditions. Chaos is not inimical to life; but
it is not alive or aware of life in the same sense that we (or even the gods) are.
The generations of Chaos can be monstrous and dangerous, and give rise to
stories about asuras, Titans, and other terrors that plague early civilization.
Second, Chaos is opposed by other spiritual powers, and demonized as a
monster itself. This role is exemplified in Christian legends, which prophesy
a coming final battle in which Chaos will return to war against Creation. The

155
cosmos is disturbed, and the earth groans with storms, earthquakes, even
eclipses, all caused by the increasing intrusions of Chaos. Most of these legends
predict a return of the very monsters that appeared in the earlier battles at the
dawn of creation: dragons and demons break their adamantine chains - and
so too, perhaps, the Saturnine deity. Whether or not such legends should be
taken literally, it illustrates that there are other powers in the cosmos besides
Chaos, and that these powers seek to limit and marginalize the cosmos as best
they can.
Saturn as an agent or remnant of Chaos within the cosmos is opposed by
the other gods but they cannot slay him. This leads to His exile but Saturn's
godly prison is imperfect. His malefic influence remains perennial, and erupts
at times to temporary riotous freedom, before it can be banished back into the
black dimension symbolized by the cube.
The perceptive Saturnine acolyte sees the black deity not only as a god, but
as a symbol of the Chaos which He embodies. In other words, the veneration of
Saturn is the veneration of an extension of Chaos itself. The Saturnine path is
a dark one, not because it is inherently bad or hateful, but because it is aligned
with forces that are alien to most other spiritual currents. The Saturnine adept
challenges the ruling powers of this aeon, just as the Saturnine Deity disrupts
those powers in myth, and likewise in reality.
The dark deity has two essential goals, which form the mandate of the
Saturnine cult. The first goal is to claim sovereignty, to conquer, to take back
the celestial throne and then to restore the Saturnine kingdom ensuing in a
state in which the world is again less differentiated from Chaos. Under Saturn's
rule, humanity would be free of fear, grief, and loss, because it would achieve
true equality through its newfound freedom from individuality and discrimi-
nation, in a never-ending Saturnalia.
The second, more far-reaching goal, is the eventual return of Chaos itself.
The Saturnine kingdom may never return - there are no guarantees, and there
are other spiritual powers that hold sovereignty, or would like to seize it. Yet
the return of Chaos is prophesized, and when it comes, it may be for the last
time. The Saturnine acolyte prepares for that day, by working to increase the
influence of Saturn - and Chaos - at work in the world today.

156
 On a personal level, the Saturnine current is very empowering. This path
offers rites and devotional practices that lead to genuine gnosis, and to greater
control of one's life and surroundings. This is an esoteric system that genu-
inely produces miracles - the medieval authors risked their lives (and reputa-
tions) to tell us as much. Devotion to the god o f malefica brings resilience to
many kinds of harm. Allegiance to the deity of restraint brings freedom from
many of the esoteric and mundane shackles that bind others. Yet the Saturnine
current is connected to the Saturnine cause, and anyone who genuinely seeks
to enter the current will find that their ambitions and drives take a back seat
to the greater will of the deity of the Black Cube. As Saturnine gnosis begins to
build within an individual, one becomes an agent of Chaos, and that may bring
with it a certain degree of unforeseen hardship. This sounds dramatic, but it
is unavoidable, because the Saturnine path is part of an actual drama, an epic
which is yet to be finished.
This book was written at the urging of the Black Cube, in the hopes that its
content may be of use to others who feel drawn to the presence of this strange
deity. Saturn offers you the chance to stand with Him while living, so that
you may have a hand in shaping your own destiny. As Saturn is Himself an
aspect of Chaos, He offers you the opportunity to allow Chaos to run rampant
in your life, even if only for a little while. The Saturnine path is truly unique,
because it brings genuine communion with a deity that is alien to this world,
yet constrained by it. By making common cause with Saturn, you are allowing
yourself a chance to actually know Him, and in serving Him, to serve yourself.

■ R e d e u n t S a t u m i a regna. ■

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 Selected annotated
B ibliography of Saturnine M aterials

T he following section examines a selection of easily accessible primary

and secondary sources that include details of the Saturnine deity and
its cult particularities. A cursory examination of the list reveals how broadly
the Saturnine deity was revered. It should be noted that this list is very much
abbreviated, rather than exhaustive.

A ZTEC

■ Guilhem Olivier. M ockeries a n d M etam orph oses o f an A ztec G od:

Tezcatlipoca, ‘L o rd o f the S m o k in g M ir r o r '. Trans. Michel Besson.
University Press of Colorado, 2003.
Olivier's work is the definitive study on the cult of Tezcatlipoca, the Aztec
analog of the Saturnine deity. This volume contains myths, semiotics, and
cultic practices which are adaptable for the contemporary practitioner of the
Meso-American current of the Black Cube. Despite the general disappearance
of much of the Meso-American culture, Tezcatlipoca's cult continues today to
be a popular force in contemporary occultism. This study is especially important,

159
because it examines a culture which exalts the Saturnine deity as paramount,
rather than attempting to revere yet restrain the deity, as in Roman culture.

■ Elizabeth Baquedano. Tezcatlipoca: T rickster a n d S u p re m e D eity,

University Press of Colorado, 2014.
Baquedano's work is an absolute must, as it builds on the foundation of the
work by Olivier, but considers the last decade's worth of research, and most
significantly, it weighs all through the lens of archeology and material culture.
Considering ritual, sacrificial, and burial items, Baquedano is able to construct
a more complete understanding of the Saturnine cult than has been previously
possible.

■ Marc G. Blainey. Techniques of Luminosity: Iron-Ore Mirrors and

Entheogenic Shamanism among the Ancient Maya.' In M a n u fa ctu red
Lig h t: M irro rs in the M eso a m erica n R e a lm (edited by Emiliano Gallaga
M. and Marc G. Blainey), pp. 179-206. Boulder, CO: University Press of
Colorado, 2016.
This article explains some of the spiritual and scrying practices of the
Tezcatlipoca cult (among others). It details the use of iron mirrors, as well as
the use of entheogens as part of the shamanic experience. This article is espe-
cially useful for those who intend to make use of mirrors as part of the spiritual
scrying and astral projection practices.

CLASSICAL / MEDIEVAL

■ Betz. Th e G reek M a g ic a l P a p y ri. Greek and Demotic, circa 5 thcentury ce ,

Egypt-
The Greek Magical Papyri (Papyri Graecae Magicae or p g m ) need little introduc-
tion for the literate occultist. A collection of primarily Greek and Demotic texts,
the pgm is a thorough Hellenistic series of spells, prayers, and rituals, which
provides the basis for what is considered the Hermetic tradition. A blend of
Jewish, early Christian, Hellenistic (Greco-Roman), Egyptian, and other tradi-
tions from antiquity, the pgm collection is diverse in its content and dating, as

160
it contains materials from as early as the second century b c e , to as late as the
5thcentury c e . While the Satunine deity is not prevalent in this corpus, Cronos
appears in several incantations, most noticeably an oracle rite that is said to
summon the Titan himself.

■ Macrobius. T h e S a tu rn a lia . Latin, 5 thcentury c e , Rome.

Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius was a fifth century Roman writer, whose
work Saturnalia tells us much of what we understand around the practices of
the Saturnalia festival, which begins on 17 December. He describes the strange
practices of the festival, focusing on the positive chaotic aspects, the reversal
of roles, and customs relevant to its correct celebration. Through Macrobius,
we understand also some of the larger cult of Saturn, and his worship in the
pre-Republic period. At the time of writing, his works are not yet available in
English, and require Latin.

■ H. S. Versnel, T ra n sitio n a n d R ev e rsa l in M y th a n d R it u a l Inconsistencies

in G reek a n d R o m a n R elig io n II. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993.
Versnel's pioneering work on the Greco-Roman's cults of Cronos and Saturn is
absolutely fundamental to the contemporary cult of the Black Cube. It discuss-
es interpretation of myth, and the cultic and sacerdotal practices of the cult of
the Saturnine deity. One of the salient details of this volume is that while other
studies often assume that Cronos = Saturn and therefore separate discussion
is unnecessary, Vernel wisely acknowledges the distinction between Cronos
and Saturn, and treats each 'persona' of the deity as unique. The Saturnalia
and the Cronia are even treated in separate chapters. This is not to say that
the author does not recognize the cultic connections or borrowing, but that he
understands that Roman religion was distinct from Greek religion, despite the
evident borrowings which took place. This work is also important as it does not
shy away from some of the darker, chthonic aspects of the Saturnine deity, and
explores (for example) the bloodier sacrificial aspects of the 'fearful and even
horrible god.' Finally, Versnel discusses the Roman spouse of Saturn, Mater
Lua ('Mother Destruction'), who often receives little attention despite her rela-
tively sinister character.

161
■ Richard Kieckhefer, Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual ofthe
Fifteenth Century. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University
Press, 1998.
This work is a solid academic overview of a wide range of medieval magic, from
diverse sources (eastern and western). It includes several examples of medi-
eval Saturnine magical operations, which give some insight into how Saturn
was perceived by the practicing medieval European magician. This text tends
towards what practitioners at that time would have considered 'black magic,'
as it antedates the modern understanding and discussion of Right Hand Path/
Left Hand Path (rhp/lhp) which has become common parlance in western
esoteric tradition.

INDIAN

■ David Knipe, "Softening the Cruelty of God: Folklore, Ritual, and the
Planet Sani (Saturn) in Southeast India." in Studies in South Indian
Civilization in Honour ofVelcheru Narayana Rao. Ed. David Shulman.
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995 .
This essay provides a very good overview of contemporary popular devotion
to Saturn (Sani) in South Asia, and is especially good at understanding how
such an overtly malefic deity is rehabilitated in the popular consciousness. The
essay provides a very good introduction to the dating of the navagraha cult as
far back as the Vedic period. The essay explores the major contemporary folk
beliefs about Saturn, such as his fearsome nature, his generally negative influ-
ence, the duration of his overshadowing (in years), the positive aspects of the
trauma He inflicts, and the means by which his black gaze can be mitigated.

■ Robert Svoboda. The Greatness ofSaturn: A Therapeutic Myth. Lotus

Press: 1997
This short book is Dr. Robert Svoboda's work on Lord Sani, the Vedic equiva-
lent of Saturn. Better known for his work on the Aghora sect of India, Svoboda
here explores and adapts some of the traditional Saturnine legends for a
Western audience. As a master jyotisha (astrologer), Svoboda is concerned

162
with Sani principally as one of the navagraha or 'astral seizers', and that is the
lens through which Saturn is explored in this book. Svoboda is not concerned
with describing the ancient Saturnine cults, as he is a practitioner and yogi
rather than a historian. Nevertheless, he includes some very practical notes
for how to incorporate Saturnine devotion into one's spiritual routine. It is
good to note that in this work Svoboda explores the concept of Saturn as the
principle of restraint, which corresponds very nicely to the Western imagery of
Saturn as 'the chained god.'

■ Charles Burnett. ‘Remarques Paléographiques et Philologiques sur les

noms d'anges et d'esprits dans les traités de magie traduits de l'arabe
en latin' in Mélanges de l'Ecolefrançaise de Rome, Tome 114 (2002).
This brief pamphlet is largely unknown, yet very significant for its combina-
tion of Arabic, Indian, and Latin themes. Its principal value is the transmission
of some alleged Saturnine tradition from India, together with a detailed list
of the 72 'spirits' of Saturn in Arabic and Latin texts. Burnett in turns cites the
Arabic Kitab al-Ustuwwatas and Kitab al-Istimatis manuscripts as texts contain-
ing Saturnine materials. While the scripts involved are Arabic and Latin, the
transmission is clearly Indian in origin.

ISLAMIC

■ Pseudo Al-Majriti. Ghayat al Hakim ('The Aim of the Sage') / The

Picatrix (Latin title). Arabic, circa 11thcentury c e , Andalusia.
The Ghayat al Hakim (Arabic for 'Aim of the Sage') is a well-attested text from
10th/11th century Andalusia. It was composed in Arabic, and later translated
into Spanish and Latin as The Picatrix. It is among the best known Islamic
esoteric texts in the Western world. The author, sometimes referred to as
Pseudo Al-Majriti, presents the text as applied 'philosophy,' and it contains a
sizable transmission of astrological and talismanic lore, which has been traced
ultimately to Harran (Turkey), and contains practices that are Hermetic/
Hellenistic, Sabian, Nabataean, and even Indian. While The Picatrix is some-
times cited as the definitive work on Arab astrology, it is important to note that

163
its fame in Islamic countries was relatively minor when compared with better
known works like the Shams ul-Ma‘arifa. The Picatrix is an excellent source on
ancient and medieval Saturnine practices in the Muslim world and beyond,
as the author includes a very generous range of Saturnine practices and anec-
dotes on the various names, attributes, powers, and cultic practices specific to
Zuhal.

■ Abu Bakr Ibn Wahshiyya. F ila h a a l-N a b a t iy y a ('Nabataean

Agriculture'). Arabic, circa 9 thcentury c e , Iraq.
Nabataean Agriculture was a work penned by the ninth century c e author Abu
Bakr A'mad bin Ali al-Nabati, an Iraqi scholar and mystic. Ibn Wahshiyya's
works have not been fully translated into English, and require reading knowl-
edge of Arabic. He was something of a polymath, and wrote about alchemy,
poisoning, history, linguistics, and the ancient agricultural and spiritual
practices of the pre-Islamic peoples of Mesopotamia. Ibn Wahshiyya's work
Nabataen Agriculture does indeed cover some facets of farming, but also includes
several very detailed prayers and cult practices of Zuhal. Ibn Wahshiyya's notes
are, in fact, so highly detailed that they indicate that he himself practiced the
cultic rites of the Saturnine deity, though he takes pains to inform the reader
that he includes such instructions 'only for posterity.' The Nabataean Agriculture
was in turn one of several sources for the anonymous author of the Ghayat al
Hakim.

■ Anon. R a s a ’il Ik h w a n a l-S a fa ('Epistles of the Brethren of Purity').

Arabic, circa 1 0 th c e n t u r y c e , Iraq.
The Epistles form 52 separate books, and are sometimes rightly referred to as
an encyclopedia. They are the works of an elite Muslim intellectual society,
which appears to have embraced a very wide range of views that included
Hermetic, Ismaili, Sufi, and Neo-Platonic ideologies. When we describe them
as 'Muslim,' we mean largely that their members would have publicly self-iden-
tified as Muslims, and that the movement's members were living in predomi-
nantly Muslim territory. This said, a thorough study of their works (the Epistles
most notably) indicates some esoteric views that would have been heterodox

164
and illegal by both Sunni and Shi'a standards. Additionally, the Epistles (specifi-
cally volume 52) include some cult practices of Zuhal, as well as the initiation
rites of a chthonic cult that worshipped an entity known as the Demogorgon
(Arabic 'Girgis'). These have been partially translated into English, and Oxford
is completing a complete bilingual edition.

INTERNATIONAL

■ Samuel Macey. P a tria rch s o f T im e: D u a lism in S a tu m -C ro n u s, F a th e r

Tim e, the W a tch m a k e r God, a n d F a th e r C h ristm a s . Athens: University of
Georgia Press, 1987.
This volume is useful for several reasons. First, it explores the Saturn-Cronus
figure as the god (or aeon) of time, which is one of the principal aspects of the
deity. Secondly, it examines how those cultural aspects have survived in differ-
ent, more benevolent guises, such as Father Time and (unexpectedly) Santa
Claus. The value of this text is that it demonstrates how the mimetic aspect of
a deity may visibly survive through several cultural shifts, without diminishing
its popularity or influence. Mace/s work is less useful as a practical text, and
provides more understanding of the deity than (say) its cult or practices.

165
 A ppendix One

The Names of the 72 Spirits40

A rabic V ersion Latin V ersion

1 H a m u d ia s D ahm odyez
2 A h u d y ia s A h u y n o rn ez
3 W a f lid u s V a c a la y d u z
4 D ila s D a y le z
5 S o r ia s C ay o rz
6 H a la b r a s H ay raz
7 M a s u d ia s M aoydez
8 F a lid u s L acayd u z
9 S a 'ila s M ach yes
10 D ah ad ru s D a h ta z
11 K a k a lu s C a y d e le ly z
12 Sary u y as M aypayonez
13 D a r s id u s D a ry a ly d u z
14 H a filu s H a y fa y le s

40 Adapted from Burnett (See above, p. 163).

167
 A rabic V ersion Latin V ersion

15 Dabadlus Dandulez
16 Armahus Almahez
17 Ilmadus Calamyches
18 Hilwas Mayrez
19 Bilwas Nahcarez
20 Awkrandus Aochuidoz
21 Kayarus missing
22 Suwindas Caydemoz
23 Samas missing
24 Sanmaras Caylemaraz
25 Dahadurus missing
26 Hawas Hadez
27 Hnrus Hayfar
28 Siras Caynaraz
29 Mantanuros Cafyoraz
30 Zarnuwas Caryonaz
31 Hisaras missing
32 Madus missing
33 Ablamus missing
34 Farmanos missing
35 Habandamus missing
36 Faknawus Faynaderaz
37 Aumras missing
38 Sadurus Maydoraz
39 Mandurus Mayderanoz
40 Hahwaz Hagraz
41 Hadrus Henaz
42 Andurus Ghearaz
43 Hahahrus Barharaz

168
 A rabic V ersion Latin V ersion

44 Barnus missing
45 Habaras Hayneroz
46 Manuraz missing
47 Amdimimas Ahdemoz
48 Darayuz Darayuz
49 Dahamaz Dehomez
50 Baryouraz Bachyoraz
51 Hafis Henyez
52 Manahis missing
53 Karluwas Cartaraz
54 Dardus Voardoraz
55 Hahharus Beyahranyoz
56 Dandaras Candaraz
57 Lamdaras missing
58 Admaras missing
59 Armuras Omeraz
60 Aduryanus Adryemys
6l Akarnamus Accamyz
62 Warnarus missing
63 Malias Camylyez
64 Dahadrus Dachraras
65 Kadras Quedaz
66 Rakhanas Camurdaz
67 Dahalias Dahalyez
68 Arorias Aaradyez
69 Haruras Haramyez
70 Arnuhas missing
71 Mohas missing
72 Msahas Mayheuz

169
 AppendixTwo

N u m b e r O f Hours
The following chart provides the number of hours

Day of the W eek H ours after S unrise/S unset

Saturday 1+ 8
Sunday 5 + 12
Monday 2 +9
Tuesday 6
Wednesday 3 + 10
Thursday 7
Friday 4 + 11

171
 Image Credits
m P. 18, the Black Cube, original artwork by Erica Frevel for this publica-
tion. Acrylic paint, fermented blood and consecrated ink on maple
hardwood panel - 16 by 20 inches.
■ P. 66, Saturnus-Malalcbel, Detail. Grande galerie du Tabularium - Musei
Capitolini. Image taken by Jean-Pol Grandmont. Source: https://
commons.wikimedia.0rg/wiki/File:O_Autel_dedie_au_dieu_Malakbel_
et_aux_dieux_de_Palmyra_-_Musei_Capitolini_(ib).JPG
■ P. 67, Saturn with his scythe, riding in his chariot. Engraving by
C. Lasinio, 1695, after Raphael, 1516. Source: Wellcome Library, London.
Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk. http://wellcomeimages.
org/indexplus/image/Voo24875.html
■ P. 68, Detail from 'Saturn, Jupiter's father, devours one o f his sons' by
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File:Rubens_saturn.jpg
■ P. 79 , Sani. Detail from MS Indie alpha 721. Kastnatha Lagnacandrika.
Source: Source: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images imag-
es@wellcome.ac.uk. https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/
L0028654.html
■ P. 85, Sani, Graha. 1842. Image from The complete Hindoo Pantheon,
comprising the principal deities worshipped by the Natives of British India

173
 throughout Hindoostan by E. A. Rodrigues. Source: https://commons.
wikimedia.0rg/wiki/File:Sar1i_graha JPG
■ P. 111, Logo/Sigil of the Fraternitas Saturni. Source: https://commons.
wikimedia.0rg/wiki/File:FraternitasSaturniSiegel.svg
■ P. 118, Saturn. Engraving, 1597, by Jacob Matham after Hendrik
Goltzius. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. Source: https://
www.artsy.net/artwork/jacob-matham-after-hendrik-goltzius-saturn

174
 Editions

P
ublished by Theion Publishing in a strictly limited Cloth Hardcover Edition
of 720 copies bound in grey-blue fine cloth and an Auric Edition o f 52 hand-
numbered copies fully bound in Saturnine black leather.
All Auric copies embed on the front cover a sigilized, embossed Saturnian
lead plate, individually consecrated to the deity. Combining the poisonous
metal of Saturn with black animal leather sacred to the deity, each Auric copy
is a true Saturnine Talisman.

175